Canoe Financial LP Has $200.06 Million Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 510.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 353,431 shares during the period. Moody’s comprises 2.9% of Canoe Financial LP’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Canoe Financial LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $200,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 81.2% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 1,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $5,705,000. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 4,420 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,092,000 after buying an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.14.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $475.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $86.20 billion, a PE ratio of 43.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $480.40 and a 200-day moving average of $470.37. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $503.95.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

Moody’s Company 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.