Moody’s Corporation $MCO Position Lifted by Sterling Investment Management LLC

Sterling Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,960 shares during the period. Moody’s accounts for approximately 3.0% of Sterling Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Horizon Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 77,500.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 527,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $244,817,000 after buying an additional 56,273 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 289.8% in the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after buying an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,528,000 after buying an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Moody’s by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 47,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,287,000 after buying an additional 656 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.09, for a total value of $199,652.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,385,939.38. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,802,876. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $542.87.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $485.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $86.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $495.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $483.63. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS 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.