Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Carderock Capital Management Inc.

Carderock Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for about 2.2% of Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $9,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after acquiring an additional 279,253 shares in the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $488.46.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $490.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $89.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.50, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $476.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $434.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Moody’s 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 directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.