SouthState Corp Acquires 62 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

SouthState Corp raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 322 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $483.85 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $456.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $415.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.35 billion, a PE ratio of 52.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $490.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 37.12%.

Moody’s 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.