Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by Raymond James Trust N.A.

Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 106.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 98.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,099,000 after buying an additional 3,909 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after buying an additional 12,588 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $141,336,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth $2,792,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value 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 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $480.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $358.49 and a 12-month high of $495.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $473.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.25. The company has a market capitalization of $87.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. Analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

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.