Stance Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 2,730 Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Stance Capital LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 2,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,369,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,360,000 after buying an additional 191,368 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.6% during the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,644,552,000 after acquiring an additional 83,872 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after acquiring an additional 69,455 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,291,568,000 after purchasing an additional 35,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $486.48 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $86.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $483.44 and a 200-day moving average of $492.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.21 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,569 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,848 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.07.

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.