Mizuho Securities USA LLC Purchases 68,674 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 567.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,674 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $38,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,692,000 after buying an additional 2,831 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Moody’s by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,263,000 after buying an additional 1,735 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 11,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,533,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $473.36 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $352.17 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $473.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $447.48. The stock has a market cap of $85.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.23, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 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%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.