Vident Advisory LLC Acquires 16,289 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 304.4%, owning 21,640 shares valued at $10.08 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Moody's reported $3.56 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, with a revenue of $1.90 billion, representing a 4.5% year-over-year increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, yielding 0.7%, with a payout ratio of 31.95%.

Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 304.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,640 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,289 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $10,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,690,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisory LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 1,143 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 477 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 482 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of Moody's 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 sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $540.57.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded down $2.59 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $495.91. The stock had a trading volume of 550,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,372. Moody's Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $507.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $479.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.13, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.42.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.28 EPS. Moody's's revenue 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 research analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.