Natixis Advisors LLC Has $81.01 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 170,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,790 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $81,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $473.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $352.17 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $473.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $448.02.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 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.