Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Kesler Norman & Wride LLC

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC decreased its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 49.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $987,524,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $135,968,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% in the second 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 191,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 223.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 102,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,225,000 after purchasing an additional 184,598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MCO. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $555.93.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $531.51 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $496.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $497.36. 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 Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $540.00. The firm has a market cap of $94.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.73, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,154 shares of company stock worth $1,041,098. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s 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.