AGF Management Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AGF Management Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,503 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,138 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $29,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of MCO opened at $444.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $488.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.26. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.