Dorsey Wright & Associates Buys 26 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Dorsey Wright & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 26 shares during the quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE MCO opened at $473.29 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $469.93 and a 200-day moving average of $426.05. The firm has a market cap of $86.42 billion, a PE ratio of 51.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $477.08.

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.