Auto Owners Insurance Co Lowers Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Auto Owners Insurance Co trimmed its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 97.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 933 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 44,210 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $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 valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its position 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. purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in 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 valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.09, for a total transaction of $199,652.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,385,939.38. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,245 shares of company stock worth $628,804. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:MCO opened at $491.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.61 billion, a PE ratio of 39.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $492.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $486.57.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

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.