Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Ballentine Partners LLC

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,616 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $141,336,000. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded down $8.41 on Friday, hitting $475.44. 689,097 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 728,927. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $457.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $416.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $490.18.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $465.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Moody’s

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.