Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber Sells 281 Shares

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Robert Fauber also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, January 2nd, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66.
• On Friday, November 15th, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO traded up $7.70 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $479.05. The company had a trading volume of 557,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 602,139. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $480.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $470.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $503.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,272,000 after purchasing an additional 4,548 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 10.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 706,406 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,347,000 after buying an additional 68,563 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,117,000. Finally, Lingotto Investment Management LLP increased its stake in Moody’s by 46.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 17,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,346,000 after purchasing an additional 5,522 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.14.

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.