State of Michigan Retirement System Raises Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 45,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $19,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $479.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $87.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $483.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $446.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $410.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

About Moody’s

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.