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

TD Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor 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 approximately 0.33% of Moody’s worth $287,199,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its holdings in Moody’s by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 32,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,549,000 after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 113,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,620,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527 shares during the period. Fortis Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 5,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,702,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $42,206,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $469.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $485.79 and its 200-day moving average is $480.31. The stock has a market capitalization 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. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.