Bank of Montreal Can Has $90.43 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 191,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25,938 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $90,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 164.1% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 3,676 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 388.0% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter worth approximately $304,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,087,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $396.41 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $71.31 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $476.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $476.98.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $523.43.

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.