Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $26,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the second 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at about $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after purchasing an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,228,382,000 after purchasing an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $477.18 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $474.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $444.44. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $337.80 and a 12-month high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $86.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MCO. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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 price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s 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.