Van ECK Associates Corp Has $15.54 Million Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 11.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,153 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,287 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Moody's were worth $15,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moody's by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $343,935,000 after buying an additional 723,721 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the second quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Moody's by 41,992.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James lowered Moody's from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Moody's from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Moody's in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Moody's from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,043 shares of company stock worth $1,857,335. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $1.06 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $461.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,327,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 739,362. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $332.05 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $475.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $443.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.43 EPS. Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.