Canoe Financial LP Reduces Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Canoe Financial LP decreased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 83.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 69,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 359,499 shares during the quarter. Canoe Financial LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $32,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after buying an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares during the period. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.1% in the first quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $686,230,000 after purchasing an additional 173,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $462.80 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.51 billion, a PE ratio of 50.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $478.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $438.94.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

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.