CIBC Asset Management Inc Has $11.70 Million Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,711 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc's holdings in Moody's were worth $11,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in Moody's by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody's Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of MCO traded down $12.00 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $499.62. 1,348,207 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 754,611. The company has a market cap of $89.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $486.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $480.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 30.17%.

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.