Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, insider Richard G. Steele 1,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded up $9.90 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $458.92. The company had a trading volume of 160,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 738,822. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $428.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $403.05. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $462.66. 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 stock has a market cap of $83.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28.

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. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.