Insider Selling: Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Insider Sells 3,704 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody's Corporation at an average price of $511.10, totaling over $1.89 million, resulting in a 31.09% reduction in their ownership.
• Moody's reported a quarterly EPS of $3.56, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $1.90 billion, marking a 4.5% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, with a yield of 0.73%, set to be paid on September 5th.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded down $14.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $501.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,115,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 807,604. Moody's Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $491.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $476.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.59, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody's

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Moody's by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,715,000 after purchasing an additional 10,350 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Moody's by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,531 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in Moody's by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 26,232 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Moody's by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 136,873 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $64,792,000 after acquiring an additional 26,702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC increased its position in Moody's by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.