Olstein Capital Management L.P. Has $1.95 Million Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. decreased its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $594,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 36,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,223,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 44.6% in the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 814 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 74.9% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,735 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. 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 research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $462.41. The stock had a trading volume of 51,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,139. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $475.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $443.17. The stock has a market cap of $83.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $334.78 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.06 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

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

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.