Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Insider Sells $252,783.94 in Stock

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded up $5.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $464.93. The stock had a trading volume of 649,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,371. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $432.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $404.30. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $465.30. The company has a market capitalization of $84.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in Moody’s by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 367 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $831,000. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on MCO. Bank of America increased their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.50.

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.