Nordea Investment Management AB Buys 98,951 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 19.6% in Q2, acquiring an additional 98,951 shares, bringing its total ownership to 604,010 shares valued at approximately $298 million.
• Multiple analysts have raised their target prices for Moody's shares, with Barclays and JPMorgan setting new targets of $580, reflecting strong investor confidence in the company's performance.
• Moody's reported an EPS of $3.56 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and has a FY 2025 guidance set at 13.500-14.000 EPS, indicating a positive growth outlook.

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 604,010 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 98,951 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.34% of Moody's worth $298,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Moody's by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its position in Moody's by 42.9% during the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Moody's during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Barclays upped their target price on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Moody's from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $542.87.

Moody's Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of MCO opened at $468.57 on Friday. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $83.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.81, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.41. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $497.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $482.73.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.28 earnings per share. The company's 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 value of $455,891.28. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,802,876 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody's 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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