Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 20,924 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 22.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 20,924 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $36,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $30,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 42.9% in the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 5,050.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective 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. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $542.33.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.09, for a total value of $199,652.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,385,939.38. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,365 shares of company stock valued at $1,712,505. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9%

MCO opened at $495.22 on Tuesday. 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 $88.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $493.04 and a 200-day moving average of $486.09.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Moody’s 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.