Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC has increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter, owning a total of 9,944 shares valued at approximately $4.99 million.
• Analysts have raised Moody's target prices, with Morgan Stanley adjusting theirs from $493 to $498, while Oppenheimer raised theirs from $552 to $563, indicating a positive outlook.
• Moody's reported $3.56 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a 4.5% increase in revenue year-over-year, with a guidance for FY 2025 set at 13.500-14.000 EPS.

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,944 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,889 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $4,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 50.0% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 42.9% during the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Moody's during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on shares of Moody's and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $541.21.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $483.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $86.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.10, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.41. Moody's Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company's 50 day moving average is $503.01 and its 200 day moving average is $482.19.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last 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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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