Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Bought by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 22.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,028 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,202 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $13,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 55,808.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $373,879,000 after purchasing an additional 801,414 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth about $328,595,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $841,050,000 after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $712,777,000 after purchasing an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 142.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,083,000 after purchasing an additional 238,569 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $538.80.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.2%

MCO stock opened at $509.9870 on Tuesday. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $91.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $502.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $479.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,599,385. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.