Moody's Corporation $MCO Stake Lessened by Dock Street Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Dock Street Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 5.2%, owning 20,003 shares valued at approximately $10 million by the end of the second quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Mutual Advisors LLC and AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc, increased their holdings in Moody's, with AEGON's stake rising by 32.7% to over 119,000 shares.
• Moody's reported EPS of $3.56 for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, while analysts have set an average price target of $543.27 for the stock, indicating a positive outlook.

Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,003 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,097 shares during the period. Moody's makes up 0.9% of Dock Street Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Dock Street Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $10,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 78.1% in the second quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $708,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 17.7% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,885 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 8.9% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 525 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 32.7% in the second quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 119,255 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $59,778,000 after purchasing an additional 29,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Innova Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the second quarter worth $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,603,224 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Oppenheimer increased 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on Moody's and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $543.27.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $481.36 on Wednesday. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock's 50-day moving average is $499.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.74. 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 firm has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The firm's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

Moody's 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.

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