Venturi Wealth Management LLC Purchases 2,132 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 149.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,132 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,698,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after buying an additional 191,368 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,644,552,000 after acquiring an additional 83,872 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after acquiring an additional 69,455 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,291,568,000 after purchasing an additional 35,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 10.3% in the 2nd 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. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $530.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $94.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $495.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $496.92. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $540.00.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.23%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 2,154 shares of company stock worth $1,041,098 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $574.00 target price on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Seaport Res Ptn raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $555.93.

Moody’s Company 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.