Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Bought by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,352 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 64 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 84.1% during the second quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 7,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,835,000 after purchasing an additional 3,492 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at about $206,000. Smith Salley Wealth Management boosted its stake in Moody’s by 3.8% during the second quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 10,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,245,000 after buying an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Crown Oak Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% during the second quarter. Crown Oak Advisors LLC now owns 16,673 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,363,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $476.80 on Monday. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.35 billion, a PE ratio of 40.51, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $506.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $481.09.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $540.71.

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.