Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Sells 14,100 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 10% to approximately $59.26 million, now owning 127,254 shares.
• Several analysts issued new price targets for Moody's, with JPMorgan raising it to $565 and Barclays to $580, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $540.57.
• Moody's reported a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%, with earnings per share beating estimates at $3.56 compared to the expected $3.39.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. trimmed its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,254 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 14,100 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.07% of Moody's worth $59,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Moody's by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,715,000 after acquiring an additional 10,350 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 227,228 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $107,548,000 after purchasing an additional 32,633 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,589 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Moody's by 4,020.1% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 65,798 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,147,000 after purchasing an additional 64,201 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $540.57.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $0.76 on Friday, reaching $499.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 565,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,345. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $89.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.40, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.42. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $507.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $479.44. Moody's Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.