Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) CEO Sells $216,401.75 in Stock

Key Points

• CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock for a total of $216,401.75, resulting in a 0.67% decrease in his ownership of the company's shares.
• Moody's recently reported $3.56 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate and reflecting a 4.5% year-over-year revenue growth to $1.90 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, payable to investors of record on August 15th, which represents a 0.7% yield.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total value of $216,401.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,130,706.10. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Tuesday, July 15th, Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total value of $208,911.00.

Moody's Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $7.28 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $509.18. The stock had a trading volume of 542,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,811. The company has a market capitalization of $91.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.26, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $499.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.43.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%. The company's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody's

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $538.80.

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.

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