Ghe LLC Reduces Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Ghe LLC cut its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 12.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,050 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up approximately 3.2% of Ghe LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Ghe LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $7,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% during the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,644,552,000 after buying an additional 83,872 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,943,418,000 after buying an additional 69,455 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,291,568,000 after acquiring an additional 35,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 10.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 215,551 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $486.48 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $86.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 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. 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 50 day moving average of $483.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $492.77.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 2,154 shares of company stock worth $1,041,098 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 price target on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

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.