J2 Capital Management Inc Acquires 208 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

J2 Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 41.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 713 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position 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 during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at $30,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 50.0% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 42.9% in the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird upped 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. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.21.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total value of $455,891.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $479.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $85.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $481.28. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. 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.