Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Decreases Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,000 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $12,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the third quarter worth approximately $815,000. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 44.3% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 8.5% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 727 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in Moody’s by 14.8% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $519,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $500.88 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $474.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $453.66. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $358.49 and a 1-year high of $503.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.76 billion, a PE ratio of 45.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.