TD Asset Management Inc. Has $287.20 Million Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

TD Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 606,711 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 106,815 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. owned 0.33% of Moody's worth $287,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Moody's by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after buying an additional 63,820 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Moody's by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $727,726,000 after purchasing an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over 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 corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded down $7.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $461.09. 535,573 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 744,111. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.91, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $485.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. 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 yield of 0.82%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

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.