Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Purchased by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 8.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 86,649 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,529 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $43,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 25.6% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $2,223,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,050,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $526,760,000 after purchasing an additional 22,352 shares during the period. Soundwatch Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth approximately $3,036,000. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 3,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Raymond James Financial upgraded Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $478.06 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $482.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $492.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.43, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,569 shares of company stock worth $1,253,848. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.