First Horizon Advisors Inc. Buys 26 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Moody’s by 114.3% during 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. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % 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

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.7 %

MCO opened at $478.02 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $473.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $450.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $358.49 and a 12 month high of $495.10.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

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.