TD Asset Management Inc. Buys 106,815 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 606,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 106,815 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $287,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased 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 valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $469.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $485.79 and a 200-day moving average of $480.31. The stock has a market cap of $84.45 billion, a PE ratio of 41.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. 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.