Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 335,770 Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 335,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $141,336,000. Moody’s makes up 1.6% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MCO. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.50.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $5.15 on Friday, reaching $464.93. 516,111 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 740,371. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $465.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $431.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $403.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.90 billion, a PE ratio of 50.19, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

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.