Sarasin & Partners LLP Sells 25,731 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Sarasin & Partners LLP decreased its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 420,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25,731 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for 2.1% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned about 0.23% of Moody’s worth $210,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 10,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,153,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $455,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter worth $1,559,000. Baron Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter worth $303,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 3.2% in the second quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 5,558 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $508.10 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $508.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $479.86. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.95 billion, a PE ratio of 43.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 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 firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $540.57.

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.