HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 26,869 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 11.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 200,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 26,869 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $90,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advus Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Advus Financial Partners LLC now owns 575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 41,935.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 100,442,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $45,492,307,000 after acquiring an additional 100,203,310 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $211,000. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.1% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,630 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.5% during the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,130,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $493.26 on Tuesday. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $402.28 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $490.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $463.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $85.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.56 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.61.

About Moody’s

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.