Deutsche Bank AG Sells 86,074 Shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG reduced its ownership of Moody's Corporation by 8.5%, selling 86,074 shares to hold a total of 922,770 shares valued at approximately $429.7 million.
• Moody's reported earnings of $3.56 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with a revenue of $1.90 billion, marking a 4.5% year-over-year increase.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their price targets for Moody's, with a consensus target price now at $538.80, reflecting a positive market outlook for the company.

Deutsche Bank AG cut its holdings in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 922,770 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 86,074 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.51% of Moody's worth $429,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moody's by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,214,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Moody's by 77,500.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 289.8% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 7.9% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,528,000 after purchasing an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,381,000 after buying an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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 issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $514.58 on Friday. Moody's Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. 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 company has a market cap of $92.11 billion, a PE ratio of 43.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $495.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $478.40.

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 (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total value of $455,891.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. This trade represents a 29.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock valued at $4,382,984 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.

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