TD Private Client Wealth LLC Purchases 2,617 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 828.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,933 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,617 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter worth $2,792,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 106.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.0% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 221,745 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,238,000 after acquiring an additional 2,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 43.1% during the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $501.46.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.6 %

MCO stock opened at $494.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.65 billion, a PE ratio of 45.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $503.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $477.74 and its 200 day moving average is $459.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

About Moody’s

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.