AXQ Capital LP Makes New $1.08 Million Investment in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• AXQ Capital LP invested approximately $1.08 million in Moody’s during the second quarter by purchasing 2,391 shares. Institutional investors collectively own 92.11% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Moody’s, with an average price target of $553.61; several firms recently raised their targets, including JPMorgan to $600.
• Moody’s exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.68 in EPS and $2.19 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 15.1% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, representing a 0.8% yield.

AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,391 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,083,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 806.7% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 9,239 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 8,220 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,097,101,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Moody's by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,703 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Moody's by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 514,377 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $262,769,000 after purchasing an additional 143,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TRB Advisors LP boosted its stake in Moody's by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. TRB Advisors LP now owns 30,000 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,326,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $505.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Moody's from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $553.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,166,165.20. This trade represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE MCO opened at $493.26 on Friday. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $85.43 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $489.95 and a 200 day moving average of $462.63.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.56 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 16.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

Moody's Company Profile

Moody's Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody's is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody's operates primarily through two complementary businesses.

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