Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Advisors Preferred LLC

Advisors Preferred LLC lessened its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 908 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 208 shares during the quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% in 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 during the period. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,775,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 567.2% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,338,000 after purchasing an additional 68,674 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew 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 valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Oppenheimer raised 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted 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 note on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.36.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $503.51 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $91.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $482.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $476.21. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $506.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $540,051 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s 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.