Simplicity Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 4,034 Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,023,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its position 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 50.0% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its position in Moody’s by 42.9% during the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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 note on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.21.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6%

MCO opened at $485.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $86.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $503.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $482.02. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. The company’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. Research 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.