Moody's Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Ironvine Capital Partners LLC

Key Points

• Ironvine Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 3.1%, now holding 82,350 shares valued at approximately $38.35 million.
• Moody's reported a quarterly EPS of $3.56, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenues increasing by 4.5% year-over-year to $1.90 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.8% with a payout ratio of 31.95%.

Ironvine Capital Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,350 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,635 shares during the period. Moody's comprises approximately 4.2% of Ironvine Capital Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Ironvine Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $38,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moody's by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,899,490,000 after acquiring an additional 119,548 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Moody's by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,590,679 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $752,980,000 after acquiring an additional 220,681 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Moody's by 9.7% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $738,897,000 after acquiring an additional 140,128 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Moody's by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,777,000 after acquiring an additional 265,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley Forge Capital Management LP grew its position in Moody's by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley Forge Capital Management LP now owns 1,314,144 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $622,076,000 after acquiring an additional 25,700 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were 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 directly owned 1,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 have sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $540.57.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $507.69. 449,601 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 774,831. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $507.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $479.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.88 billion, a PE ratio of 43.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.42. Moody's Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93. 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 (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.