iA Global Asset Management Inc. Trims Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

iA Global Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,271 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $987,524,000. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at $135,968,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,360,000 after buying an additional 191,368 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 223.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 102,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,225,000 after acquiring an additional 184,598 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 91.0% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 235,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,987,000 after acquiring an additional 112,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $574.00 price target on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $524.00 to $570.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.94.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,739 shares of company stock worth $841,445. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $523.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $505.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $499.83. The company has a market cap of $93.41 billion, a PE ratio of 42.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.