VestGen Investment Management Raises Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

VestGen Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 4.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. VestGen Investment Management’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $328,595,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% during 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 buying an additional 265,389 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% during 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 buying an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 70.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $208,370,000 after buying an additional 184,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 29.9% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 634,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $295,570,000 after buying an additional 146,141 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,802,876. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $490.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $493.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $485.38. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a PE ratio of 39.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 price objective on Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.33.

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.