Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 62 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 83.0% in 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 during the period. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $540,051 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

MCO stock opened at $503.51 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $482.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $476.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $506.27.

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.