Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Buys 502,891 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $985,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.0% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.1% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $474.54 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $473.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $450.02. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $358.49 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $85.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.