Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Prosperity Consulting Group LLC

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its stake in Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $141,336,000. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $477.08.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $476.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $490.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $463.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $420.14.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

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.