Darwin Wealth Management LLC Takes $100,000 Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 210 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $100,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 52.2% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 9.3% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,774,000 after purchasing an additional 2,988 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,909 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,371,000 after purchasing an additional 12,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth $141,336,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $474.54 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $473.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.02. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $358.49 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The company has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

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.