Cerity Partners LLC Has $19.02 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $19,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 98.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,099,000 after acquiring an additional 3,909 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Moody’s by 204.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after acquiring an additional 12,588 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $141,336,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,792,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $494.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $89.52 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $473.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.29. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $358.49 and a one year high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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