Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,899,490,000 after acquiring an additional 119,548 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,651,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $769,085,000 after acquiring an additional 60,816 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 9.7% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $738,897,000 after purchasing an additional 140,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $712,777,000 after purchasing an additional 265,389 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.21.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $489.79 on Thursday. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $502.11 and a 200 day moving average of $482.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $87.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.28 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135. 0.14% of the stock is owned by 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.