First Horizon Corp Acquires Shares of 1,241 Moody’s Corporation $MCO

First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 worth $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,644,552,000 after buying an additional 83,872 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $1,943,418,000 after acquiring an additional 69,455 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in Moody’s by 1.4% during 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. raised its position in Moody’s by 10.3% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $534.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $95.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $498.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $498.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $540.00.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $524.00 to $570.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $574.00 price target on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating 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. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $558.44.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,739 shares of company stock worth $841,445 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.