IFP Advisors Inc Cuts Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

IFP Advisors Inc cut its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 123 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Moody’s by 3.1% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 762 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its position in Moody’s by 42.9% during the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 2.1% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 5.8% during the first quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 477 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total value of $212,749.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the 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 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 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MCO. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.79.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $484.17 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $501.29 and a 200-day moving average of $482.58. The firm has a market cap of $86.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio 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.