Moody's Corporation $MCO Stock Holdings Increased by Aberdeen Group plc

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 6.3%, owning approximately 156,677 shares valued at $77.68 million.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Moody's, with UBS Group setting a new target of $515 and Deutsche Bank at $528, reflecting a positive outlook on the stock.
• Moody's reported earnings of $3.56 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 4.5%.

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 156,677 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,244 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.09% of Moody's worth $77,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,899,490,000 after purchasing an additional 119,548 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 10.3% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after purchasing an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,651,495 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $769,085,000 after purchasing an additional 60,816 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 9.7% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $738,897,000 after purchasing an additional 140,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 21.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $712,777,000 after purchasing an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody's in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on Moody's and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Moody's to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $542.79.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $484.17 on Friday. Moody's Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $501.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $482.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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