Cornerstone Advisors LLC Has $4.25 Million Stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 14.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,100 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $4,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter worth $312,000. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $256,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 459 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter worth approximately $720,502,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Moody's stock traded up $7.88 during trading on Monday, hitting $484.84. 900,321 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 731,276. The stock has a market cap of $88.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.07, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $463.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $420.42. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $490.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody's had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Moody's from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on Moody's from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody's from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $477.08.

Moody's Company 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.