Greenleaf Trust Reduces Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Greenleaf Trust has reduced its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 9.8%, now owning 6,021 shares valued at approximately $3 million.
• Several institutional investors have made recent adjustments to their positions in Moody's, with important movements including a 89.7% increase in holdings by Merit Financial Group.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of $540.71 for Moody's, reflecting a generally positive outlook with ten Buy ratings and five Holds.

Greenleaf Trust lessened its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,021 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 652 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust's holdings in Moody's were worth $3,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,563 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at about $469,000. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 89.7% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,055 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,286,000 after acquiring an additional 3,335 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,374 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $640,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 954 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 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 and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $540.71.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total value of $455,891.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE MCO opened at $476.64 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.32 billion, a PE ratio of 40.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.42. The stock's 50 day moving average is $505.23 and its 200 day moving average is $481.29.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

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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