Xponance Inc. Has $21.88 Million Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 51,989 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $21,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd bought a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,469,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 14.1% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Moody’s by 7.0% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 26,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,737 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $451,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 329.2% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 42,963 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,084,000 after purchasing an additional 32,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE MCO opened at $494.66 on Monday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $467.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $424.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.32 billion, a PE ratio of 54.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $477.08.

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.