TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Raises Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,859 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 832 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $2,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Moody's by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,981,000 after buying an additional 4,544 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $470,712,000 after acquiring an additional 31,780 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Moody's Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Moody's stock traded up $5.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $445.73. The company had a trading volume of 190,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,114. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $453.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $472.78. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $80.19 billion, a PE ratio of 39.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. 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 (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

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.