Darwin Wealth Management LLC Invests $100,000 in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCOFree Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 210 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $100,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 165.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 218 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,499 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,767,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its position in Moody’s by 6.6% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 834 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.2% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 129,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,000,000 after acquiring an additional 36,542 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Moody’s

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $474.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $85.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.34, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $473.37 and its 200 day moving average is $450.02. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $358.49 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:MCOGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

About Moody’s

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Moody's (NYSE:MCO)

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