CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Buys 6,109 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,109 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.10% of Moody’s worth $81,719,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $524.33.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $424.40 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $465.54 and a 200-day moving average of $474.51.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. 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.