Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $1.49 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 223,255 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,194,000 after buying an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 14,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,631,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 57,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,390,000 after purchasing an additional 13,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 20,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,199,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $483.85.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.7 %

MCO stock opened at $457.39 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $472.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $430.12. The company has a market cap of $83.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.