Insider Selling: Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) CEO Sells 1,743 Shares of Company Stock

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,743 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.75, for a total transaction of $890,237.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,364 shares in the company, valued at $26,234,163. The trade was a 3.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Thursday, October 1st, Robert Fauber sold 923 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $419,965.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded down $1.03 on Tuesday, hitting $510.05. 936,076 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,054,217. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company has a market cap of $87.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $477.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $467.02.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $4.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.25 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 84.76% and a net margin of 35.26%. The firm’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.92 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 25.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $914,721,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 72.5% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,081,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,963,000 after buying an additional 454,684 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 5,102.9% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 286,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $124,860,000 after buying an additional 280,712 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 21,256.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 255,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,803,000 after buying an additional 253,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 275.2% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 319,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $144,884,000 after buying an additional 234,640 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Evercore raised their price objective on Moody’s from $570.00 to $588.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Moody’s from $610.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $595.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $557.00 to $593.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $552.63.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and risk-analysis services. Through Moody’s Investors Service, it assesses the creditworthiness of businesses, governments and financial instruments, providing ratings and related research to investors and other market participants. Its Moody’s Analytics business offers data, software and analytical tools used in areas such as credit and financial risk management, compliance, and economic research. The company serves clients across international markets, including financial institutions, corporations, governments and investors.