Harris Associates L P Sells 5,031 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Harris Associates L P reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 60.5%, holding shares worth approximately $1.53 million at the end of the quarter.
• Moody's announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, which reflects an annualized dividend of $3.76 and a yield of 0.7%.
• Recent analyst reports show increased price targets for Moody's, with ten analysts rating the stock a "Buy" and an average price target of $538.80.

Harris Associates L P reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 60.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,290 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,031 shares during the quarter. Harris Associates L P's holdings in Moody's were worth $1,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 1,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 5,050.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody's by 132.6% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was 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 directly owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were 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. The trade was 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 valued at $4,599,385 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report 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 research report on Wednesday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $540.57.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $499.00. The stock had a trading volume of 565,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,345. The business's fifty day moving average is $507.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $479.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $89.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.40, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.42. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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