Advisory Alpha LLC Raises Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Advisory Alpha LLC increased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,775,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 567.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,338,000 after purchasing an additional 68,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction 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 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $484.60 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $503.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.26, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.30. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $472.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.3 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.36.

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.