Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases 222 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 222 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1,000.0% in 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 in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 50.0% in 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 boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Moody’s from $534.00 to $521.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $542.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total value of $455,891.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. This trade 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 hyperlink. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,802,876 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE MCO opened at $468.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $83.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $497.94 and its 200-day moving average is $482.73. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.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. Moody’s’s 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.