Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Decreases Stake in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 44.7%, owning 79,595 shares after selling 64,428 shares, with holdings valued at $37,067,000.
• Moody's reported $3.56 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, and announced a $0.94 quarterly dividend to be paid on September 5th.
• Recent insider trading included CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland selling 897 shares at an average price of $508.24, resulting in a 29.46% decrease in their ownership position.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec reduced its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 44.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 79,595 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 64,428 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's holdings in Moody's were worth $37,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 5,050.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 132.6% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 581.3% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 90 days, insiders have sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of MCO stock opened at $511.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $503.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.14. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $91.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.48, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. The firm'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. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Moody's 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.