Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 176 shares during the quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $533,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 0.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after buying an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 11.1% during the first quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,230,000 after acquiring an additional 173,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $488.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $89.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $495.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $477.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $435.57.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. 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 posted $2.30 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $488.46.

About Moody’s

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.