LVW Advisors LLC Purchases 308 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

LVW Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position 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 valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $487.77.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:MCO traded up $4.55 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $473.95. 75,668 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 740,851. The business has a 50-day moving average of $473.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $431.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.31 billion, a PE ratio of 46.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $495.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.56%.

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.