Fiduciary Financial Group LLC Takes $337,000 Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Fiduciary Financial Group LLC has acquired a new stake in Moody's Corporation worth approximately $337,000 by purchasing 670 shares.
• Recent insider selling includes CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland offloading 897 shares, reducing her ownership by 29.46%, along with SVP Richard G. Steele selling 1,457 shares, a 51.25% ownership decrease.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Moody's, with UBS Group increasing its target from $445 to $515, and the average rating for the stock is now a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $540.57.

Fiduciary Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 670 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $34,715,000 after acquiring an additional 10,350 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,429,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 13,661 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,467,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 37,029 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $17,528,000 after buying an additional 6,932 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth approximately $507,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value 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. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $540.57.

Moody's Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE MCO opened at $512.32 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $508.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $479.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.71 billion, a PE ratio of 43.53, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.42. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week 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.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 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 analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.Moody's's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.95%.

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.

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