Moody’s Corporation $MCO Position Lifted by Transcend Capital Advisors LLC

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 2.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Moody’s by 42.9% during the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 5,050.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $532.00 to $539.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $542.33.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.3%

MCO stock opened at $490.54 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $493.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $485.70. The stock has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a PE ratio of 39.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,802,876. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.