Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Increases Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,288 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,899,490,000 after purchasing an additional 119,548 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,185,000 after purchasing an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 9.7% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $712,777,000 after purchasing an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.90, for a total transaction of $269,669.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,168,399.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,817 shares of company stock worth $911,315 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.4%

Moody’s stock opened at $480.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.76 billion, a PE ratio of 38.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.41. 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 one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $490.45 and a 200 day moving average of $487.11.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted 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 company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s’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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

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.