Comerica Bank Buys 15,054 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Comerica Bank boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 44.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,054 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $22,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,715,000 after purchasing an additional 10,350 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 595 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,387,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total value of $455,891.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. This trade represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Moody’s from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Moody’s from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.80.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $515.4930 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $92.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.80, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $502.31 and a 200 day moving average of $479.87. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.95%.

Moody’s Company 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.