Candriam S.C.A. Sells 1,024 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. reduced its position in Moody's Corporation by 2.6%, holding approximately $18.02 million in shares as of the end of the first quarter.
• Institutional investors now own 92.11% of Moody's stock, with notable increases from several funds, including Wolff Wiese Magana LLC and Golden State Wealth Management LLC, which boosted their stakes significantly.
• Moody's recently reported earnings of $3.56 per share for the quarter, exceeding estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, reflecting a 0.7% yield.

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,686 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,024 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $18,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 1,000.0% in the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5,050.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in Moody's during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Moody's by 132.6% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motco boosted its position in Moody's by 581.3% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $538.80.

Moody's Stock Up 1.2%

MCO stock traded up $6.0230 during trading on Friday, reaching $515.4930. 642,948 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 688,775. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm's 50 day moving average is $502.31 and its 200 day moving average is $480.03. The firm has a market cap of $92.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

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.