iA Global Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 19.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,713 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,126 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $4,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Moody's during the third quarter valued at approximately $273,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody's by 1.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,383 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Moody's in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $100,000. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 97.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 177,754 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $84,360,000 after purchasing an additional 87,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. 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 research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE MCO traded up $8.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $477.52. 754,845 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 708,448. The company has a market capitalization of $85.90 billion, a PE ratio of 42.37, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The firm's 50-day moving average is $485.79 and its 200-day moving average is $480.31.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Equities analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 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.