Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. Makes New Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,874 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,893,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,613,867,000 after acquiring an additional 119,450 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Moody’s by 4.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,692,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,058,198,000 after buying an additional 126,088 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $720,502,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’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 directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $466.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 429,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 738,284. The company has a market cap of $85.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.95, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $438.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $406.89. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $469.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for 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 was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.00.

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.