Ycg LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

YCG LLC cut its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,484 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,214 shares during the period. Moody's makes up 6.6% of YCG LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. YCG LLC owned 0.10% of Moody's worth $86,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Motco boosted its holdings in Moody's by 9,756.3% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $14,844,000 after acquiring an additional 12,099 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,613,867,000 after acquiring an additional 119,450 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 9.3% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,046 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $13,774,000 after acquiring an additional 2,988 shares during the period. Finally, Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 26.6% during the first quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 7,441 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE:MCO traded up $11.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $477.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 720,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 682,764. The company has a market capitalization of $86.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $474.46 and a 200-day moving average of $444.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $337.80 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company's revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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 is Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of Moody's from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody's 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.