D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $2.50 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,245 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,603 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,212,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 97.3% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,114 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,243,000 after purchasing an additional 4,495 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5,050.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,762,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,802,876 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $542.33.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.3%

Moody’s stock opened at $490.54 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $493.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $485.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.23%.

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.