Mizuho Securities USA LLC Boosts Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 567.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,674 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $38,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter worth $208,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,622 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $637,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after buying an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cercano Management LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 15.4% during the first quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 196,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,064,000 after purchasing an additional 26,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.8 %

MCO opened at $473.36 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $473.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.48. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $352.17 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $85.77 billion, a PE ratio of 43.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

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.