Shum Financial Group Inc. Invests $231,000 in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Shum Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 8.5% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 727 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,381,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCO. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $0.74 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $493.29. The company had a trading volume of 56,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,743. The firm has a market cap of $89.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 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 fifty-two week low of $358.49 and a fifty-two week high of $496.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $473.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 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.