Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Grows Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 87,531 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $43,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1,000.0% in the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in Moody’s by 42.9% during the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Moody’s from $534.00 to $521.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $542.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,802,876 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $470.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $497.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $482.75. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $84.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.99, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

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.