GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 968 shares during the period. Moody’s comprises approximately 0.8% of GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $16,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $478.74 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $490.18. The company has a market cap of $87.18 billion, a PE ratio of 52.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $462.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $419.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.