Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,831 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in Moody’s by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after acquiring an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $686,230,000 after purchasing an additional 173,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,709,627 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $719,635,000 after purchasing an additional 78,782 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MCO. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $471.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $473.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $449.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $355.77 and a 52 week high of $495.10. The stock has a market cap of $85.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.10, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.