Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Acquires 497 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,673 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Qsemble Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1,052.4% in the 3rd quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 5,283 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Moody’s by 17.6% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 216,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $102,738,000 after buying an additional 32,483 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Moody’s by 97.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE MCO opened at $494.03 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $358.49 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.52 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The business’s 50-day moving average is $473.62 and its 200 day moving average is $452.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its 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 return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

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.