Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA Purchases Shares of 984 Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 984 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $469,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth about $987,524,000. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $135,968,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 10.3% during 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. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 223.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 102,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,225,000 after buying an additional 184,598 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $574.00 target price on shares of Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $555.93.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $530.53 on Friday. 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 cap of $94.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $540.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $495.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $496.92.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued 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 company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,154 shares of company stock worth $1,041,098. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.