Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 400 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 13.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $540,051 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE MCO opened at $505.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $483.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $477.61. The company has a market capitalization of $91.56 billion, a PE ratio of 46.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $513.04.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.36.

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.