Banco Santander S.A. Boosts Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,339 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $9,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 52.2% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,844,000 after buying an additional 12,099 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,774,000 after purchasing an additional 2,988 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position 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 worth $3,099,000 after buying an additional 3,909 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Moody’s by 204.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,371,000 after buying an additional 12,588 shares during the period. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $141,336,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $478.02 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $358.49 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $86.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $473.36 and its 200 day moving average is $450.21.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.