Cwm LLC Buys 1,141 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Cwm LLC increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 29.7% in Q2, now holding 4,980 shares valued at approximately $2.5 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC and Blue Trust Inc., significantly raised their holdings in Moody's, reflecting strong interest in the stock.
• Moody's stock has a current average target price of $542.87 with a "Moderate Buy" rating, indicating positive growth expectations among analysts.

Cwm LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 29.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,980 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Cwm LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCO. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 49.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,532 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,493,000 after purchasing an additional 7,492 shares in the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 1st quarter worth $207,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 177.0% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 784 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on Moody's and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Moody's from $534.00 to $521.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Moody's from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $542.87.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $470.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $84.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. 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 fifty day moving average price is $497.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $482.83.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for 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%.Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.09, for a total value of $199,652.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,385,939.38. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,802,876 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.

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