Global Endowment Management LP Lowers Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Global Endowment Management LP cut its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 55.8%, now owning just 1,397 shares valued at approximately $651,000.
• Moody's reported a quarterly EPS of $3.56, exceeding expectations and demonstrating a 4.5% revenue growth compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.7% based on a payout ratio of 31.95%.

Global Endowment Management LP decreased its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 55.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,397 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,762 shares during the period. Global Endowment Management LP's holdings in Moody's were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,715,000 after purchasing an additional 10,350 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 12,130 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,732,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,431 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 1,185 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $442,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.45, for a total value of $216,401.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,618 shares in the company, valued at $32,130,706.10. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $5.6450 on Thursday, reaching $509.3050. 117,261 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 785,941. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $500.86 and a 200 day moving average of $479.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.17 billion, a PE ratio of 43.32, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.40. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share 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 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 company's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

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.