K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Boosts Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 982 shares during the period. Moody’s accounts for approximately 1.2% of K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $7,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Moody’s by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,775,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $498.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $89.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.19, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $488.22 and a 200-day moving average of $481.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.