D.B. Root & Company LLC Decreases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

D.B. Root & Company LLC cut its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,441 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO traded down $4.35 during trading on Monday, hitting $460.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 570,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,200. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $465.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $433.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $404.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.