MetLife Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 2.3%, now owning 47,147 shares valued at approximately $21.96 million.
• Various institutional investors increased their stakes significantly during the same period, with some, like Wolff Wiese Magana LLC and Golden State Wealth Management LLC, making extraordinary increases of 1,000% and 5,050%, respectively.
• Moody's recently beat earnings expectations with a reported EPS of $3.56, surpassing the consensus estimate of $3.39, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94, reflecting a 0.7% dividend yield.

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,147 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,106 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $21,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 5,050.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody's during the first quarter worth approximately $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Motco raised its stake in Moody's by 581.3% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total transaction of $216,401.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,130,706.10. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $538.80.

Moody's Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE MCO opened at $515.4930 on Monday. Moody's Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $502.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $479.87. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $92.27 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.28 EPS. The company's quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. 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 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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