Connable Office Inc. Sells 1,156 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Connable Office Inc. trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,129 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,156 shares during the quarter. Connable Office Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6 %

MCO opened at $482.09 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $474.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $446.54. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $350.38 and a 52 week high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $87.35 billion, a PE ratio of 44.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.