Hhlr Advisors LTD. Has $1.23 Million Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Hhlr Advisors LTD. has reduced its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 41.1%, bringing its total investment to approximately $1.23 million.
• A significant number of institutional investors have altered their positions in Moody's, with some increasing their stakes substantially, such as Graham Capital Management, which raised its holdings by 87.1%.
• Moody's shares have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a consensus target price of $538.80, indicating potential future growth.

Hhlr Advisors LTD. decreased its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 41.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,637 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,840 shares during the quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $1,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 1,574 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $734,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 105.4% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 1,366 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Moody's in the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Marshfield Associates increased its position in Moody's by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 513,899 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $239,318,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Moody's by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 13,099 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,100,000 after purchasing an additional 6,099 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays upped their price target 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. UBS Group lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total transaction of $216,401.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,130,706.10. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm'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 value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Moody's stock opened at $509.79 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.25 billion, a PE ratio of 43.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.42. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $506.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $479.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody's's 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.

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