Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 3,825 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,825 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $31,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after buying an additional 63,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’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 value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,524 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,413. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.36.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE MCO opened at $484.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $503.95. The stock has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $480.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $471.73.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.24 earnings per share for the current year.

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.