State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $27.09 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,594 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $27,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. VestGen Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 2.0% in the second quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. EWA LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 4.4% in the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 501 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 693 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore upped their price target on Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. 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, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $558.56.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $426.82 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $501.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $496.28. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $546.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.14 billion, a PE ratio of 34.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.90, for a total transaction of $286,867.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,473,809.80. The trade was a 0.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Profile

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.