Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Decreased by Fiera Capital Corp

Fiera Capital Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,167,708 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 161,736 shares during the quarter. Moody's comprises 4.5% of Fiera Capital Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Fiera Capital Corp owned about 1.75% of Moody's worth $1,503,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $500.00.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody's Trading Up 2.5 %

MCO traded up $11.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $477.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 720,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 739,311. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $86.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $474.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $444.01. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $337.80 and a 52-week high of $495.10.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. The company's revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

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.