Edge Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Edge Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 504 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 17,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,710,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $594,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 16.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 3,691 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,378 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $935,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MCO traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $461.87. The stock had a trading volume of 51,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 737,391. The company has a market capitalization of $84.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $477.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $440.08. 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 $303.98 and a 12 month high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,612 shares of company stock worth $2,110,119. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.