Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 10.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 50.0% in the second 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 increased its stake in Moody’s by 42.9% during the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.07.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $484.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.97, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $487.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $490.38. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s’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. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.23%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 2,984 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,249 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.