300 Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Acquired by Berbice Capital Management LLC

Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 300 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $142,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in Moody’s by 566.7% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 83.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.36.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $487.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $88.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.50, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $472.19. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $503.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Company 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.