Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Acquired by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Moody’s by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 762 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its position in Moody’s by 42.9% during the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 477 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody’s in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $542.79.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $484.17 on Monday. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $86.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.14, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $501.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $482.67. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The firm 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 business posted $3.28 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the sale, 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, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.