Insider Selling: Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Sells $133,435.66 in Stock

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• 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 value of $134,596.19.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $479.15 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $503.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $479.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $468.19.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued 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 company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.