Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 3,300 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 7.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 46,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $23,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Moody’s by 42.9% in the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5,050.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MCO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.09, for a total value of $199,652.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,385,939.38. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,365 shares of company stock valued at $1,712,505 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $495.22 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $88.35 billion, a PE ratio of 39.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $493.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $486.09.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Research analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

About Moody’s

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.