Troy Asset Management Ltd Lowers Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Troy Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 101,710 shares during the period. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $15,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter worth $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $543.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,154 shares of company stock worth $1,041,098. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $486.48 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $483.44 and a 200 day moving average of $492.77.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.21 EPS. The company’s 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st were paid 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 dividend payout ratio 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.