Dark Forest Capital Management LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 110.6%, acquiring an additional 4,872 shares during the first quarter, bringing the total to 9,276 shares valued at approximately $4.32 million.
• Moody's reported strong earnings, delivering $3.56 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a 4.5% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, representing a 0.7% yield, with a payout ratio of 31.95%.

Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 110.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,276 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,872 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Moody's were worth $4,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Moody's by 2.6% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 1,574 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $734,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its stake in Moody's by 105.4% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,366 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's during the first quarter valued at about $222,000. Marshfield Associates raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.5% during the first quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 513,899 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $239,318,000 after acquiring an additional 2,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 87.1% during the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 13,099 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,100,000 after acquiring an additional 6,099 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $540.57.

Moody's Trading Down 0.2%

MCO stock traded down $0.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $499.00. The company had a trading volume of 565,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,345. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $89.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.40, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $507.85 and a 200 day moving average of $479.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. Moody's's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 31.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.