Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,059,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,140 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.59% of Moody’s worth $531,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $987,524,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $328,595,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth approximately $135,968,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% during the first 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 period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 10.3% in 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 in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.6%

MCO opened at $489.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $87.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.33, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.45. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $482.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $492.19. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The company 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a $0.94 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,569 shares of company stock worth $1,253,848 in the last ninety days. 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.