Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Qsemble Capital Management LP

Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1,052.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,283 shares during the quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $494.03 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $358.49 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.12, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $473.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $452.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Services. The Moody’s Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.