Erste Asset Management GmbH Reduces Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Erste Asset Management GmbH lowered its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 18.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 392 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 1,000.0% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring 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 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 in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 132.6% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco grew its stake in Moody’s by 581.3% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.0%

MCO stock opened at $509.7530 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.25 billion, a PE ratio of 43.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $501.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $479.99. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MCO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $538.80.

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.