Fiera Capital Corp Acquires 35,123 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,123 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up about 4.4% of Fiera Capital Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Fiera Capital Corp owned about 1.44% of Moody’s worth $1,291,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 50.0% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 42.9% in the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 132.6% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 2,984 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,249 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.5%

MCO stock opened at $490.51 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $487.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $490.76. The company has a market cap of $87.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

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.