Moody's Corporation $MCO is Caledonia Investments PLC's 8th Largest Position

Key Points

• Caledonia Investments PLC has increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 12% in the second quarter, making it the 8th largest position in their portfolio, representing approximately 5.9% of their holdings.
• Moody's reported a quarterly EPS of $3.56, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenue of $1.90 billion, which was a 4.5% increase compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company has a current annual dividend of $3.76, yielding 0.8%, and the dividend payout ratio stands at 31.95%.

Caledonia Investments PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,800 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,750 shares during the quarter. Moody's accounts for approximately 5.9% of Caledonia Investments PLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Caledonia Investments PLC owned about 0.07% of Moody's worth $59,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Moody's in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total value of $212,749.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,350 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was 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 $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% 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 worth $4,812,135 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $480.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $86.02 billion, a PE ratio of 40.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody's Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $505.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $481.33.

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. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $540.71.

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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