UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Has $22.80 Million Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 716 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $22,800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $585,000. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% during the first quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 20,723 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,650,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. NatWest Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $10,309,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 25.3% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $724,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 38.5% during the first quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 35,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,632,000 after buying an additional 9,930 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moody’s from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody’s from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $540.57.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $499.00 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $89.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.40, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $507.85 and a 200-day moving average of $479.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total value of $216,401.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,130,706.10. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.