Troy Asset Management Ltd Has $85.32 Million Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Troy Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 180,241 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,479 shares during the period. Moody's accounts for approximately 2.9% of Troy Asset Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Troy Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.10% of Moody's worth $85,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Moody's in the 3rd quarter valued at $273,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 722 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,051 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,880 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Moody's Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MCO stock traded up $2.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $470.84. 233,966 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 742,547. The stock has a market cap of $84.70 billion, a PE ratio of 41.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $485.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $479.86. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.