Virtu Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,117,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TCI Fund Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth about $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 39.7% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after buying an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $477.08.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $482.73 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $464.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $421.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $490.18. The company has a market cap of $88.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.70, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.