Moody's Corporation $MCO Stock Position Raised by Ghe LLC

Key Points

• Ghe LLC increased its Moody’s stake by 78.2% in the first quarter, ending with 28,513 shares valued at about $12.4 million. Moody’s now ranks as the firm’s 5th-largest position.
• Analysts remain generally positive on Moody’s, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $545.06. Recent target changes included Barclays raising its target to $575 and BMO Capital lifting its target to $515.
• Moody’s reported better-than-expected EPS of $4.33 for the latest quarter, while revenue came in slightly below estimates at $2.08 billion. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 0.8%.

Ghe LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 78.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,513 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,513 shares during the period. Moody's makes up about 2.6% of Ghe LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Ghe LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $12,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,097,101,000. Egerton Capital UK LLP acquired a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $395,096,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,716,304 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $876,775,000 after purchasing an additional 726,971 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 50,985.1% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 420,430 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $214,777,000 after purchasing an additional 419,607 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 315.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 417,782 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $213,424,000 after purchasing an additional 317,245 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Moody's from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $545.06.

Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE MCO opened at $487.17 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $85.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.34. Moody's Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $455.50 and a 200-day moving average of $465.76.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. Moody's's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

Moody's Profile

Moody's Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody's is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody's operates primarily through two complementary businesses.

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