J2 Capital Management Inc Boosts Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

J2 Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 41.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 713 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.8% during 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. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised 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 valued at $1,159,185,000 after buying an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $769,085,000 after purchasing an additional 60,816 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Moody’s by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $738,897,000 after purchasing an additional 140,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position 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 period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.21.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $479.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $85.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $504.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $481.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.95%.

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.