Insider Selling: Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Insider Sells $49,336.35 in Stock

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) insider Jason Phillips sold 95 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.33, for a total value of $49,336.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,799 shares in the company, valued at $934,274.67. This represents a 5.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $505.89 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $87.22 billion, a PE ratio of 30.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $402.28 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $477.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $467.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 84.76% and a net margin of 35.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.92 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 20th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,349,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,024,874,000 after purchasing an additional 72,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,420,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $643,191,000 after purchasing an additional 33,024 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,081,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,963,000 after purchasing an additional 454,684 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,011,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $458,126,000 after purchasing an additional 168,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Moody’s by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 882,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $385,188,000 after buying an additional 59,121 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $610.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $595.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $588.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $552.63.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and risk-analysis services. Through Moody’s Investors Service, it assesses the creditworthiness of businesses, governments and financial instruments, providing ratings and related research to investors and other market participants.

Its Moody’s Analytics business offers data, software and analytical tools used in areas such as credit and financial risk management, compliance, and economic research. The company serves clients across international markets, including financial institutions, corporations, governments and investors.

The company traces its roots to 1900, when John Moody began publishing financial analyses of railroad securities.