Toronto Dominion Bank Grows Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 39.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 129,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,542 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned about 0.07% of Moody’s worth $51,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $230,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $176,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 11,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,684,000 after buying an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $234,000. Finally, Sterling Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 4,464 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,743,000 after buying an additional 878 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.50.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded up $11.79 on Friday, reaching $449.00. 884,343 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 729,686. The company has a market cap of $81.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $422.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $399.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $458.24.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

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.