Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,235,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% in the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 2,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

MCO traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $485.96. The company had a trading volume of 61,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 737,398. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $477.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $434.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $88.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.08, a PEG 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.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $488.46.

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.