Ingalls & Snyder LLC Acquires 25,400 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 480.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 30,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,400 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd 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. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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 value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.3 %

Moody’s stock traded down $1.61 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $495.80. 33,488 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 733,900. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $474.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $455.05. The firm has a market cap of $89.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.44, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $503.95.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

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.