Fiera Capital Corp Sells 161,736 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Fiera Capital Corp trimmed its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,167,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 161,736 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises about 4.5% of Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Fiera Capital Corp owned 1.75% of Moody’s worth $1,503,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after buying an additional 723,721 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $12.01 on Friday, reaching $477.58. The company had a trading volume of 123,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,564. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $475.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $443.17. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $337.80 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $86.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.43 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 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.