Ibex Wealth Advisors Buys New Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Ibex Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,776,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter worth $30,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake 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 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 buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 132.6% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.2%

MCO stock opened at $487.81 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $487.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $490.06. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.03 billion, a PE ratio of 39.21, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,984 shares of company stock worth $1,470,249 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.