Lion Street Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Lion Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 655 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MGO One Seven LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Capital Group increased its holdings in Moody’s by 33.9% during the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,532,000 after buying an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 47.3% during the 2nd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,195,000 after purchasing an additional 4,485 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at $1,091,699.52. The trade was a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total value of $212,749.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,451,077.50. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,603,224. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 2.2%

MCO stock opened at $473.59 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.77 billion, a PE ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $500.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $482.75.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody’s in a research note on Thursday. Seaport Res Ptn raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $542.79.

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.