Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Oxbow Advisors LLC

Oxbow Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,351 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 446 shares during the period. Moody’s accounts for approximately 1.0% of Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $8,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter worth $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $8.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $475.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 689,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,927. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $490.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.90, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $457.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $416.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

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.