Intech Investment Management LLC Sells 1,390 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Intech Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 16.8%, selling 1,390 shares, leaving it with a total of 6,867 shares valued at approximately $3.2 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Moody's during the first quarter, with some growing their stakes by as much as 5,050%.
• Moody's reported a strong quarterly earnings performance with an EPS of $3.56, surpassing expectations, and announced a dividend of $0.94 per share.

Intech Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,867 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,390 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $3,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 1,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in Moody's in the first quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody's by 132.6% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $540.57.

Moody's Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE MCO opened at $512.32 on Friday. Moody's Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $508.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $479.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $91.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.42.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.28 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the business'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 transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

About Moody's

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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