Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Acquired by Slow Capital Inc.

Slow Capital Inc. grew its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the quarter. Slow Capital Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,899,490,000 after purchasing an additional 119,548 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after purchasing an additional 215,551 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,651,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $769,085,000 after acquiring an additional 60,816 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Moody’s by 9.7% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $738,897,000 after purchasing an additional 140,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 21.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $712,777,000 after acquiring an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $483.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $503.01 and a 200-day moving average of $482.19. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $86.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.10, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 31.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.21.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.