Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 962,604 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 10,008 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.53% of Moody's worth $456,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Moody's by 8.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Moody's by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $833,450,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
A number of brokerages have commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Raymond James downgraded Moody's from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $500.00.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Moody's
Shares of MCO opened at $478.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $358.49 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $473.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $450.21. The company has a market capitalization of $86.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29.
Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Moody's had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. The company's revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. 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 0.71%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.
In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.
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.
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