Is Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) a buy, sell, or hold? The best stock pickers are getting more optimistic. The number of bullish hedge fund bets advanced by 3 in recent months.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of methods shareholders can use to track publicly traded companies. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are many incentives for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the key action surrounding Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO).
How are hedge funds trading Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO)?
In preparation for this year, a total of 27 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 13% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Berkshire Hathaway, managed by Warren Buffett, holds the largest position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO). Berkshire Hathaway has a $1.43 billion position in the stock, comprising 1.9% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jeffrey Ubben of ValueAct Capital, with a $757 million position; 9.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedgies that hold long positions include Chris Hohn’s Childrens Investment Fund, Charles Akre’s Akre Capital Management and Tiger Global Management LLC.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Childrens Investment Fund, managed by Chris Hohn, established the largest position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO). Childrens Investment Fund had 135 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Lou Simpson’s SQ Advisors also made a $59 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MCO investors: Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital, David Stemerman’s Conatus Capital Management, and Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group.
Insider trading activity in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has experienced 2 unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results exhibited by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) applies perfectly to this mantra.
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