Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Makes New $1.87 Million Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,945 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,872,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCO. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,540,000 after purchasing an additional 5,701 shares in the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $565,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.9% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,788,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lowered Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $494.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $358.49 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $473.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $452.29. The company has a market capitalization of $89.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.