Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber Sells 415 Shares

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Robert Fauber also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 18th, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20.
• On Monday, February 3rd, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02.
• On Wednesday, January 15th, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22.
• On Thursday, January 2nd, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $471.66 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.85, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $484.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $479.80. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 44.3% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 164.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,676 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 890.2% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 5,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 4,638 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 37,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 4,300.0% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 3,053 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

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.