GWN Securities Inc. Makes New $228,000 Investment in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 454 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Horizon Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 77,500.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 11.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 527,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $244,817,000 after purchasing an additional 56,273 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 289.8% during the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 47,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,287,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, TFR Capital LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 15.0% in the first quarter. TFR Capital LLC. now owns 4,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $471.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $491.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $486.87.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.21 EPS. 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is presently 30.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 546 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.90, for a total transaction of $269,669.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $30,168,399.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,817 shares of company stock worth $911,315. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial raised Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

Moody’s 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.