Kingsview Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 10.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 722 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 52.2% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 98.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Moody’s by 204.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after purchasing an additional 12,588 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $141,336,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,792,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $500.88 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $358.49 and a one year high of $503.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $474.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $453.66. The company has a market cap of $90.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.