Stableford Capital II LLC Invests $1.09 Million in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Stableford Capital II LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,090,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $328,595,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $712,777,000 after acquiring an additional 265,389 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 10.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after acquiring an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 70.0% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $208,370,000 after purchasing an additional 184,297 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 634,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $295,570,000 after purchasing an additional 146,141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on shares of Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Moody’s from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.27.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.6%

MCO opened at $478.32 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $498.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.71. The firm has a market cap of $85.62 billion, a PE ratio of 40.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. 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 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total value of $212,749.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares in the company, valued at $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,603,224 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

About Moody’s

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.