NorthRock Partners LLC Raises Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

NorthRock Partners LLC raised its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $328,595,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position 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 last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% during 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 shares of Moody’s by 70.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $208,370,000 after acquiring an additional 184,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 29.9% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 634,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $295,570,000 after acquiring an additional 146,141 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of Moody’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,603,224. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $473.59 on Tuesday. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $500.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $482.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $542.79.

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.