Atom Investors LP Sells 5,633 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Atom Investors LP reduced its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,633 shares during the quarter. Atom Investors LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted 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 buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $497.58 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $474.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $503.95. The firm has a market cap of $90.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This represents 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.

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.