Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio reduced its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,288 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $17,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $987,524,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $135,968,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 223.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 102,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,225,000 after purchasing an additional 184,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 91.0% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 235,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,987,000 after purchasing an additional 112,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on shares of Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.94.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,739 shares of company stock valued at $841,445. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.3%

MCO opened at $523.58 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $505.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $499.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $93.41 billion, a PE ratio of 42.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.