AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Grows Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 32.7% during Q2, owning approximately 0.07% of the company valued at $59.78 million.
• Moody's reported earnings of $3.56 per share for the latest quarter, surpassing estimates and marking a 4.5% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 0.8% with a payout ratio of 31.95%.

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119,255 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 29,382 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc owned approximately 0.07% of Moody's worth $59,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,899,490,000 after purchasing an additional 119,548 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $1,159,185,000 after purchasing an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 3.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,651,495 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $769,085,000 after purchasing an additional 60,816 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Moody's by 9.7% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $738,897,000 after purchasing an additional 140,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Moody's by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,777,000 after acquiring an additional 265,389 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody's Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Moody's stock opened at $481.36 on Wednesday. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a PE ratio of 40.90, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.41. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $499.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $482.74.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 business 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%. Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MCO shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $543.27.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total transaction of $212,749.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,603,224 over the last ninety days. 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.

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