Eisler Capital Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 36,750 Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Eisler Capital Management Ltd. has acquired 36,750 shares of Moody's Corporation, valued at approximately $17.1 million, making it the 27th largest position in their portfolio.
• Moody's reported a net margin of 29.18% and a quarterly revenue of $1.90 billion, surpassing analyst expectations by $0.08 EPS.
• Wall Street analysts have recently raised price targets for Moody's Corporation, with Barclays increasing their target from $520 to $580 and maintaining an "overweight" rating.

Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 36,750 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $17,104,000. Moody's comprises about 0.1% of Eisler Capital Management Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCO. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 55,808.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $373,879,000 after buying an additional 801,414 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the first quarter valued at about $328,595,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $841,050,000 after buying an additional 302,453 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 21.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $712,777,000 after buying an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 142.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,040 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,083,000 after buying an additional 238,569 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO opened at $511.76 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $91.61 billion, a PE ratio of 43.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $503.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.14.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.28 EPS. Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MCO. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $538.80.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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