Moody’s Corporation $MCO Stock Holdings Lifted by Fiera Capital Corp

Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up 4.4% of Fiera Capital Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,291,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,899,490,000 after purchasing an additional 119,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after purchasing an additional 69,455 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,185,000 after purchasing an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,651,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $769,085,000 after buying an additional 60,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $712,777,000 after buying an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $490.51 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $487.26 and a 200 day moving average of $490.76. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.51 billion, a PE ratio of 39.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.23%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’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 directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,984 shares of company stock worth $1,470,249. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s 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.