Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber Sells 2,546 Shares

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $875,798.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,615,643.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

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

• On Thursday, August 31st, Robert Fauber sold 2,546 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.82, for a total value of $862,635.72.
• On Wednesday, August 16th, Robert Fauber sold 2,549 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.23, for a total value of $844,305.27.
• On Monday, July 17th, Robert Fauber sold 592 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.25, for a total value of $209,716.00.
• On Friday, July 14th, Robert Fauber sold 282 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.24, for a total value of $99,049.68.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.6 %

Moody’s stock opened at $343.40 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $342.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $323.57. The stock has a market cap of $63.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.25, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 1.65. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $230.16 and a fifty-two week high of $363.19.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 25.81% and a return on equity of 55.98%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 17th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,160,187 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,027,280,000 after purchasing an additional 210,068 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 12.6% during the first quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 10,369,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,173,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,192 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Moody’s by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,659,254 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,315,556,000 after purchasing an additional 148,804 shares during the last quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,909,643,000 after purchasing an additional 38,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,112,947,000 after purchasing an additional 914,530 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $300.00 to $323.00 in a report on Monday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $328.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 3rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 15th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, September 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $390.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $329.56.

About Moody’s

Moody's Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody's Investors Service and Moody's Analytics. The Moody's Investors Service segment publishes credit ratings and provides assessment services on various debt obligations, programs and facilities, and entities that issue such obligations, such as various corporate, financial institution, and governmental obligations, as well as and structured finance securities.