Wellington Management Group LLP Grows Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 3.9%, owning a total of 142,174 shares valued at approximately $66.2 million.
• Moody's announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, to be paid on September 5th.
• Analysts have raised Moody's price targets, with Wells Fargo upgrading it to $595 and maintaining an "overweight" rating amidst a "Moderate Buy" consensus.

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 142,174 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,301 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.08% of Moody's worth $66,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Qtron Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 22.4% in the first quarter. Qtron Investments LLC now owns 3,375 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Moody's by 47.6% during the 1st quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,988 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 1,449 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Moody's by 41.3% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,537 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $715,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Edge Capital LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 3.1% in the first quarter. Blue Edge Capital LLC now owns 4,461 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,077,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCO. Robert W. Baird increased 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. Mizuho increased their target price on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $538.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total transaction of $216,401.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,618 shares in the company, valued at $32,130,706.10. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded up $1.76 on Tuesday, hitting $511.76. 616,545 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 785,993. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $91.61 billion, a PE ratio of 43.48, a PEG ratio of 3.30 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 50-day simple moving average of $502.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $479.92.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors 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 yield of 0.7%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio 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.