GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. Reduces Stake in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.4% during the first quarter, selling 568 shares and holding a total of 160,808 shares valued at approximately $74.9 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their positions in Moody's, with Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raising its stake by 1,000% and Golden State Wealth Management LLC increasing its position by 5,050% during the same period.
• Moody's has received multiple analyst upgrades, with JPMorgan raising its price target from $495 to $565 and Barclays increasing theirs from $520 to $580, reflecting a strong consensus buy sentiment among analysts.

GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. cut its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 160,808 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 568 shares during the period. Moody's comprises 8.7% of GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. owned approximately 0.09% of Moody's worth $74,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Breed s Hill Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 1st quarter worth about $202,000. Capital Fund Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 144.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 57,766 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,901,000 after buying an additional 34,112 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth about $309,000. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its position in Moody's by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 4,342 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in Moody's by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 5,924 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,733,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody's Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $6.0230 during trading on Friday, reaching $515.4930. 642,948 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 688,775. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.27 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $502.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $480.03. Moody's Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month 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 issued its 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 business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents 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 this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total transaction of $216,401.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,130,706.10. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock 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 stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $538.80.

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.