Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Has $24.77 Million Stock Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC significantly increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 626.8% during the first quarter, now holding 53,185 shares valued at approximately $24.76 million.
• Insiders have sold a total of 8,593 shares of Moody's stock worth $4.38 million in the last 90 days, with CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland reducing her position by 29.46%.
• Moody's reported quarterly earnings of $3.56 EPS, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $1.90 billion, marking a 4.5% increase from the previous year.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 626.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,185 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 45,867 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $24,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody's by 5.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Moody's by 77,500.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,084,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moody's by 289.8% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,528,000 after buying an additional 2,440 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Moody's by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,528,000 after purchasing an additional 5,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Moody's by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $538.80.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock traded up $1.1450 on Tuesday, reaching $510.3650. 242,280 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 788,876. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $499.71 and a 200-day moving average of $479.43. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $91.36 billion, a PE ratio of 43.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 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%.Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,130,706.10. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale 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 the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385. Company 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.