KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Sells 12,800 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS cut its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 14.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,261 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,800 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $38,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $328,595,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $712,777,000 after buying an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 142.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,083,000 after buying an additional 238,569 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 215,551 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 70.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $208,370,000 after buying an additional 184,297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $483.71 on Tuesday. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.58 billion, a PE ratio of 41.10, 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 current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $503.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $482.19.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total value of $212,749.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.21.

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.