Pelham Capital Ltd. Purchases 6,173 Shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Pelham Capital Ltd. increased its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 36.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,047 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,173 shares during the period. Moody's comprises about 5.6% of Pelham Capital Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Pelham Capital Ltd.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $10,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Moody's by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,214,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 77,500.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,528,000 after buying an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 678 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Moody's by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 93,482 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $43,534,000 after purchasing an additional 5,684 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total value of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their price target on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody's from $523.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.07.

Moody's Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE MCO traded down $5.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $499.81. 202,649 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 764,759. The business's 50-day moving average is $482.98 and its 200-day moving average is $473.55. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.37% and a net margin of 29.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody's's payout ratio is 32.47%.

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.