Moody's Corporation $MCO Shares Bought by CW Advisors LLC

Key Points

• CW Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 10.6%, owning a total of 36,314 shares valued at approximately $16.91 million.
• Moody's reported quarterly earnings of $3.56 per share, exceeding expectations, with revenues reaching $1.90 billion, a 4.5% increase from the previous year.
• The company plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, reflecting a yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 31.95%.

CW Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 10.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,314 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,468 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $16,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in Moody's by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,715,000 after purchasing an additional 10,350 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 61.0% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,123 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,162 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,124,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 5,859 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,774,000 after buying an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Syon Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 1,733 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $820,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $6.0230 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $515.4930. 642,948 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 686,497. 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's 50 day moving average price is $502.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.87. The firm has a market cap of $92.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.80, a PEG 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The business's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $538.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total value of $216,401.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,618 shares in the company, valued at $32,130,706.10. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.