Baskin Financial Services Inc. Decreases Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Baskin Financial Services Inc. decreased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,041 shares during the period. Moody’s accounts for 4.2% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Baskin Financial Services Inc. owned 0.06% of Moody’s worth $51,449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 83.0% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James lowered Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $488.46.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.1 %

MCO stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $487.71. The company had a trading volume of 147,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 738,796. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $475.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $434.17. The company has a market capitalization of $89.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.02, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 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.