National Pension Service Grows Stock Position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 6.3% during the first quarter, owning 441,345 shares valued at $205.53 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Moody's, with Wolff Wiese Magana LLC growing its stake by 1,000% and other firms also reporting substantial increases.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Moody's stock, with JP Morgan raising it to $565, indicating strong expectations for the company's performance.

National Pension Service grew its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 441,345 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 26,070 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.25% of Moody's worth $205,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in Moody's by 1.1% during the first quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 18,813 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,761,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Moody's by 8.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 685,446 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $318,701,000 after buying an additional 51,239 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Moody's by 7.8% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 53,778 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,008,000 after buying an additional 3,876 shares during the last quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 0.5% during the first quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 10,012 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,693,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Moody's by 2.4% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 41,422 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $19,290,000 after buying an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total value of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,153,412.40. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was 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. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:MCO traded down $4.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $516.57. The company had a trading volume of 410,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 844,752. The company has a market capitalization of $92.47 billion, a PE ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $499.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.50. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.28 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. 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. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.