Ninety One UK Ltd Has $420.07 Million Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 1.1%, acquiring a total of 837,471 shares valued at approximately $420 million.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Moody's, with JPMorgan Chase increasing it to $565, reflecting a positive outlook for the company's stock.
• Moody's reported strong quarterly earnings, exceeding analyst expectations with an earnings per share of $3.56 and revenue of $1.90 billion.

Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 837,471 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,172 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned 0.47% of Moody's worth $420,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 50.0% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.1% in the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 762 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its position in Moody's by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Moody's by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 477 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $540.71.

Moody's Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $476.64 on Wednesday. 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 quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $85.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $505.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $481.29.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total transaction of $212,749.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares in the company, valued at $31,451,077.50. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135 over the last three months. 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.

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