United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Sells 42,053 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 37.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 70,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 42,053 shares during the quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $33,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE MCO opened at $479.42 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $474.15 and a 200 day moving average of $446.31. The company has a market capitalization of $86.87 billion, a PE ratio of 43.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $344.60 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Company 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.