State of Alaska Department of Revenue Cuts Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• The State of Alaska Department of Revenue reduced its holdings in Moody's Corporation by 4.3%, ending the second quarter with $8,710,000 worth of shares after selling 775 shares.
• Moody's reported earnings of $3.56 per share for the latest quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue increasing 4.5% year-over-year to $1.90 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 0.8% and a payout ratio of 31.95%.

State of Alaska Department of Revenue reduced its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,365 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 775 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue's holdings in Moody's were worth $8,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 55,808.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $373,879,000 after buying an additional 801,414 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the first quarter valued at about $328,595,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Moody's by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,777,000 after purchasing an additional 265,389 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 142.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,040 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,083,000 after acquiring an additional 238,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,159,185,000 after acquiring an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $476.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.42. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $506.10 and a 200-day moving average of $480.79.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.28 EPS. Moody's'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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $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 sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Barclays boosted 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $540.71.

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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