Moody's Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

Key Points

• First Manhattan CO. LLC reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 3.6%, now holding approximately 0.05% of the company valued at $44.3 million.
• Moody's reported a Q2 EPS of $3.56, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue rising 4.5% year-over-year to $1.90 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, set to be paid on September 5th.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. decreased its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 95,177 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,580 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned about 0.05% of Moody's worth $44,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody's by 5.5% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,214,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the period. Horizon Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 77,500.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Moody's by 11.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 527,518 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $244,817,000 after buying an additional 56,273 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 289.8% during the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,528,000 after buying an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Moody's by 7.9% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,528,000 after buying an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $540.57.

Moody's Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $499.00. 565,180 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 534,345. The firm has a market cap of $89.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.40, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. Moody's Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $507.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $479.71.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.28 EPS. Moody's'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 anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.95%.

Insider Activity

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

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.