Bamco Inc. NY Raises Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bamco Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $17,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $497.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $503.95. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $474.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $455.05. The company has a market cap of $90.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.44, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. 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 business earned $2.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s 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.