National Bank of Canada FI Sells 50,076 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 141,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 50,076 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.08% of Moody’s worth $59,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its position in Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Moody’s by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $483.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $88.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.82, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $490.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $456.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $415.63.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.00.

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.