Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,018,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,537 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $474,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 1,143 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $598,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 477 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,153,412.40. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on MCO. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $538.80.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $515.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $92.30 billion, a PE ratio of 43.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $495.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $478.52. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.95%.

Moody’s 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.