Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $540,051. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.36.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $503.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $482.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $476.21. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $506.27.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.