Moody's Corporation $MCO Holdings Reduced by AlphaQuest LLC

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC has reduced its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 43.9%, ending the first quarter with 2,980 shares valued at approximately $1.39 million.
• Moody's stock has received multiple analyst upgrades, with price targets raised by firms such as Wells Fargo and Barclays, notably increasing the consensus price target to $538.80.
• Moody's announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, providing an annualized yield of 0.7%, with the payment set for September 5th.

AlphaQuest LLC cut its holdings in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 43.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,980 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,333 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $1,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 55,808.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $373,879,000 after purchasing an additional 801,414 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at about $328,595,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Moody's by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $841,050,000 after buying an additional 302,453 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,777,000 after buying an additional 265,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 142.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,040 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,083,000 after acquiring an additional 238,569 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. The trade was a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays raised their target price on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently 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 Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $480.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year 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.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.95%.

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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