Kintegral Advisory LLC Purchases 115 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Kintegral Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Kintegral Advisory LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $7,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after purchasing an additional 119,450 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the second 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 in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised 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, Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after acquiring an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $1.63 on Wednesday, reaching $482.55. The stock had a trading volume of 612,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 731,023. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $88.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $447.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $410.85. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $488.64.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.