State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 33,363 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 35.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 60,514 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 33,363 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Moody's were worth $25,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 527.2% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 35,481 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $13,858,000 after acquiring an additional 29,824 shares in the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $312,000. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on Moody's from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Moody's from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $470.38.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded down $1.79 on Friday, hitting $476.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 740,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 730,004. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $490.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $462.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.17.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.72 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.