Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 44,867 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,474,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 44,867 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $702,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $455,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $209,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.3% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,758,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 33.0% in the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $560.94.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $539.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $546.88. The company’s 50-day moving average is $501.28 and its 200 day moving average is $498.95.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.23%.

Insider Activity

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 value of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,739 shares of company stock worth $841,445 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Moody’s

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.