Congress Asset Management Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Congress Asset Management Co. cut its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,420 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,092 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 0.12% of Moody’s worth $112,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 10.3% during the second 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 during the last quarter. IMS Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,155,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 937 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Maseco LLP acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $277,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 5,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,542,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total value of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. This trade represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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 target price on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $540.71.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of MCO stock opened at $472.79 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $506.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $480.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $84.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.17, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.42.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued 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 presently 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.