Summit Trail Advisors LLC Buys 130 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,634 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased 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 during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Moody’s by 32.0% during 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 buying an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in Moody’s by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’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 $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $494.03 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $358.49 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $89.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.12, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $473.62 and a 200 day moving average of $452.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

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.