LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Acquires 206 Shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,813 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 206 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $8,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.5% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,214,000 after buying an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 77,500.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 289.8% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 2,440 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.9% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,528,000 after acquiring an additional 5,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,381,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. 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. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group increased 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, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $538.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $512.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $91.65 billion, a PE ratio of 43.50, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $496.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $478.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.94 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

About Moody’s

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.