Avestar Capital LLC Raises Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Avestar Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 727 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $345,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Moody’s by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade 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 owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of 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 company has a market cap of $90.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.74, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $358.49 and a 12 month high of $503.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $474.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.33.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm 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 firm posted $2.43 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. 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.