Renaissance Group LLC Purchases 12,072 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Renaissance Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,072 shares during the period. Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $33,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after buying an additional 69,455 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,291,568,000 after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 10.3% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after acquiring an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.8% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 60,816 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,569 shares of company stock worth $1,253,848. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $470.24 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $485.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $491.77. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $83.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.21 EPS. The firm’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, analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company 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 payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $543.07.

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.