Insider Selling: Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Sells 281 Shares of Stock

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

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 transaction of $134,596.19.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $479.15 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $503.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $479.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $468.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share 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%. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI began coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.14.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.9% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 23,299 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,693,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 821 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Moody’s by 2.6% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 70,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,527,000 after buying an additional 1,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SouthState Corp raised its position in Moody’s by 23.8% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 322 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.