Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 240 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $231,000. Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 8.5% during the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 727 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,381,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted 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, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $493.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 83,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,793. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $473.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $452.29. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $358.49 and a 52 week high of $496.05. The company has a market capitalization of $89.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.