New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 5,100 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 2.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 220,911 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,100 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $110,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter worth $214,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Moody’s by 72.6% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 9,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,403,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $428,000. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 482 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 872 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $490.85 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $87.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $481.77 and a 200 day moving average of $492.15.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a $0.94 dividend. 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 is presently 30.23%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,569 shares of company stock worth $1,253,848. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.