Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $455,000 Investment in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Pallas Capital Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in Moody's Corporation, purchasing 906 shares valued at approximately $455,000 during the second quarter.
• Several analysts have recently raised their price targets for Moody's stock, with JPMorgan Chase increasing their target from $495 to $565 and UBS raising theirs from $445 to $515.
• Moody's reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, surpassing expectations, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 4.5% to $1.90 billion.

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 906 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in Moody's by 1,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 42.9% during the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5,050.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $540.71.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This trade 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, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Up 1.7%

Moody's stock traded up $8.28 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $489.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,199,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 784,296. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two 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 cap of $87.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $508.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $480.01.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.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 earned $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.94 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

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.