International Assets Investment Management LLC Purchases 723,721 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 74,000.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $343,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $35,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 83.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $466.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $478.15 and a 200-day moving average of $437.61. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $495.10. The stock has a market cap of $85.26 billion, a PE ratio of 50.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid 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 0.73%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.