Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $318.70 Million Stock Position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Moody's Corporation by 8.1% during the first quarter, owning approximately 685,446 shares valued at $318.7 million.
• Recent analyst reports have shown a range of price targets for Moody's stock, with UBS raising its target from $445 to $515, while Barclays increased it from $520 to $580.
• Moody's reported quarterly earnings exceeding analyst expectations, with an EPS of $3.56 and revenue of $1.90 billion, indicating a 4.5% annual revenue growth.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 685,446 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 51,239 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.38% of Moody's worth $318,701,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of 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 in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Moody's by 5,050.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 132.6% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco grew its stake in Moody's by 581.3% during the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $538.80.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded down $4.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $516.57. 410,086 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 794,037. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $498.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.41.

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 (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 company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.28 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.95%.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.