Sanctuary Advisors LLC Has $3.90 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,535 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Moody’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Moody’s by 8.4% during 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. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $501.46.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $489.20 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $479.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $461.61. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $503.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.64 billion, a PE ratio of 44.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 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 the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.