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

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $540,051 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.4 %

MCO stock opened at $505.28 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $483.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $477.61. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $513.04. The company has a market capitalization of $91.56 billion, a PE ratio of 46.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

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.