Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Holdings Raised by CreativeOne Wealth LLC

CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 10.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 620 shares during the quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Haverford Trust Co lifted its position in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was 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 owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $500.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $474.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.33. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $358.49 and a 52-week high of $503.95.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

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.