Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 10.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 85,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,011 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for about 1.6% of United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $39,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1,000.0% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5,050.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 132.6% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Motco raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 581.3% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.80.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,091,699.52. The trade was a 29.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,593 shares of company stock valued at $4,382,984. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 2.8%

MCO stock opened at $501.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $492.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $477.25. The firm has a market cap of $89.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.59, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. 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.