Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Acquires 748 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 748 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $11,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.5% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,214,000 after buying an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 77,500.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 527,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $244,817,000 after buying an additional 56,273 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 289.8% during the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,528,000 after buying an additional 2,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.9% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,528,000 after buying an additional 5,095 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $489.02 on Tuesday. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $87.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $508.06 and a 200-day moving average of $480.20. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.28 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were 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 was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays raised their price target on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $540.71.

Moody’s Company 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.