Cetera Advisors LLC Purchases 99 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 98,060.7% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,127,401 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,087,460,000 after buying an additional 3,124,215 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $425,827,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 12.6% during the first quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 10,369,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,173,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,192 shares during the last quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 67.2% during the second quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 2,288,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $795,918,000 after purchasing an additional 920,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,112,947,000 after purchasing an additional 914,530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $344.00 to $333.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $332.00 to $318.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $381.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, September 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $390.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $346.00 to $365.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $351.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,546 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.76, for a total value of $893,034.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 58,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,378,805.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,546 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.76, for a total transaction of $893,034.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 58,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,378,805.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 2,754 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.38, for a total value of $931,898.52. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,396 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,038.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,903 shares of company stock worth $6,270,468. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.2 %

MCO opened at $361.11 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $326.31 and its 200-day moving average is $331.88. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $272.70 and a 1-year high of $363.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04. The company has a market cap of $66.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.93, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 25th. The business services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 26.42% and a return on equity of 55.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.47%.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody's Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody's Investors Service and Moody's Analytics. The Moody's Investors Service segment publishes credit ratings and provides assessment services on various debt obligations, programs and facilities, and entities that issue such obligations, such as various corporate, financial institution, and governmental obligations, as well as and structured finance securities.