Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Acquired by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 90,018 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,687 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $40,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,897,000. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 500,927 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $226,880,000 after buying an additional 1,634 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,083,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 806.7% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 9,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after buying an additional 8,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ironvine Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ironvine Capital Partners LLC now owns 85,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,589,000 after acquiring an additional 3,353 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.75, for a total transaction of $890,237.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,234,163. This represents a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Michael L. West sold 9,946 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.00, for a total transaction of $4,853,648.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,176,792. This trade represents a 53.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 13,282 shares of company stock worth $6,509,459 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $510.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $477.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $466.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 84.76% and a net margin of 35.26%. The firm’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.76 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 20th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 25.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target (up from $565.00) on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America cut their target price on Moody’s from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price on Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $505.00 price objective (up from $490.00) on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $552.63.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and risk-analysis services. Through Moody’s Investors Service, it assesses the creditworthiness of businesses, governments and financial instruments, providing ratings and related research to investors and other market participants. Its Moody’s Analytics business offers data, software and analytical tools used in areas such as credit and financial risk management, compliance, and economic research. The company serves clients across international markets, including financial institutions, corporations, governments and investors.