Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,102 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Adero Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.8% in the third quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 660 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 170,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $81,012,000 after purchasing an additional 10,790 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 567.2% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,338,000 after buying an additional 68,674 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 57.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,692,000 after buying an additional 2,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.2% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.2 %

MCO opened at $474.54 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $358.49 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $473.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.02. The company has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a PE ratio of 43.34, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. 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 company posted $2.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.