UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Has $23.99 Million Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,785 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $23,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in Moody’s by 0.6% during the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,644,552,000 after buying an additional 83,872 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,943,418,000 after buying an additional 69,455 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,291,568,000 after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,185,000 after acquiring an additional 215,551 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.94.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.3%

MCO stock opened at $523.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $505.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $499.82. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The company has a market capitalization of $93.41 billion, a PE ratio of 42.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 1,739 shares of company stock worth $841,445 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.