Summit Trail Advisors LLC Buys 297 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 24.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 30,702 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,923,000 after buying an additional 2,379 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 92,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,908,000 after purchasing an additional 5,192 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 33,333 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,034,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1,345.8% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,058,000 after purchasing an additional 11,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 24.4% in the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,235 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $477.08.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $494.66 on Monday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $90.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.00, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $467.84 and a 200 day moving average of $424.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued 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 was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.