Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 53.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,879 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,705 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $987,524,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $135,968,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 21.0% in the 1st 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 period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after buying an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,360,000 after buying an additional 191,368 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Raymond James Financial raised Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.40.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $516.45 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $487.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $493.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $92.13 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. The firm’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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,154 shares of company stock valued at $1,041,098. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.