Promethium Advisors LLC Purchases 782 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Promethium Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 68.2%, acquiring an additional 782 shares, bringing its total holdings to 1,928 shares worth $898,000.
• Institutional investors now own 92.11% of Moody's stock, with GAMMA Investing LLC making a significant increase of 55,808.8% in their holdings during the first quarter.
• Moody's reported a Q2 EPS of $3.56, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.39, along with revenue of $1.90 billion, up 4.5% from the previous year.

Promethium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 68.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,928 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the quarter. Promethium Advisors LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in shares of Moody's by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,715,000 after buying an additional 10,350 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Moody's by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,419 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,826,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Moody's by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Moody's by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 227,228 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $107,548,000 after purchasing an additional 32,633 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Moody's by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,589 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $540.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $499.00. 565,180 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 534,345. The business's 50-day moving average price is $507.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. Moody's Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.28 earnings per share. The firm'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. Equities analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

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.