Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Acquired by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 738,640 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,862 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $351,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% during the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,644,552,000 after purchasing an additional 83,872 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after buying an additional 69,455 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,291,568,000 after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after buying an additional 215,551 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.3%

MCO opened at $523.58 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $505.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $499.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $93.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,739 shares of company stock valued at $841,445 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.