NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Sells 1,208 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• NorthCrest Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 3.3%, selling 1,208 shares to hold a total of 35,762 shares valued at approximately $18.06 million.
• Insider Stephen T. Tulenko and another insider sold a combined total of 5,824 shares, indicating a notable decrease in their ownership stakes in the company.
• Moody's reported a quarterly earnings per share of $3.56, exceeding analyst expectations, along with a positive year-over-year revenue growth of 4.5%.

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lessened its stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,762 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,208 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $18,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Moody's by 16.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at $507,000. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $126,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 5,351 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,533,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. The trade was a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 owned 1,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $1.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $480.83. 2,013,050 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 630,678. 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $508.36 and its 200-day moving average is $479.94. The stock has a market cap of $86.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.85, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.42. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $540.71.

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.