Scotia Capital Inc. Has $10.07 Million Stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Scotia Capital Inc. cut its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,275 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 988 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $10,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody's during the third quarter valued at about $304,000. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,060 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Moody's by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $214,976,000 after purchasing an additional 67,486 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 12.6% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,894 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 101.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Moody's Trading Down 0.8 %

MCO stock traded down $3.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $434.23. The stock had a trading volume of 776,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 772,435. 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 twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $78.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $470.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $475.49.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $524.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.