Renaissance Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Renaissance Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,072 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $33,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 7,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,712,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 762 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Accretive Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 2,569 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,848 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, October 31st. One equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $470.24 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $485.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $491.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

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.