AlphaQuest LLC Decreases Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

AlphaQuest LLC lowered its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 70.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 878 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,102 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in Moody’s by 0.3% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 7,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,712,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 50.0% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its position in Moody’s by 3.1% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 762 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its position in Moody’s by 42.9% during the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accretive Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 0.9% during the second quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $471.16 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $491.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $486.87. The stock has a market cap of $84.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.90, for a total value of $269,669.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,168,399.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,817 shares of company stock valued at $911,315 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.