Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stock Holdings Increased by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 17.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 216,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 32,483 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $102,738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 52.2% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 98.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after buying an additional 3,909 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after buying an additional 12,588 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $141,336,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $2,792,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.1 %

Moody’s stock opened at $499.69 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $358.49 and a one year high of $501.21. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $473.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.99. The company has a market capitalization of $90.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.63, a PEG ratio of 3.13 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 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, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

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.