Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Bought by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,146 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $40,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $525.31 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $506.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $499.95. The company has a market capitalization of $93.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on MCO. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $524.00 to $570.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $574.00 price objective on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $560.94.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.