Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 41.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,784 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth approximately $301,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 10,349 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. Lavaca Capital LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,729,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 2,154 shares of company stock valued at $1,041,098 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $544.75.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE:MCO opened at $493.45 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $483.62 and a 200-day moving average of $492.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.03 billion, a PE ratio of 39.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 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.