Slow Capital Inc. Buys 100 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Slow Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% during 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 increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value 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 approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $488.46.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $488.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a market capitalization of $89.19 billion, a PE ratio of 53.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $477.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $435.57.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Moody’s Company 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.