Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 33 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd 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 period. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MCO traded up $0.43 on Monday, hitting $479.81. 442,477 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 733,061. The stock has a market cap of $87.61 billion, a PE ratio of 52.46, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $483.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $445.20 and a 200-day moving average of $409.72.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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 posted $2.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.