Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Lmcg Investments LLC

Lmcg Investments LLC reduced its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,048 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 528 shares during the quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Moody's by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 13.0% in the third 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 buying an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 22.6% during 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 buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Moody's by 32.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,413. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James lowered Moody's from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com raised Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Moody's from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.36.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO stock traded up $8.74 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $484.59. 731,305 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 626,750. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $480.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $471.73. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $503.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody's had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 12.24 EPS for the current fiscal 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.