Moody’s 37.26% Volume Surge Lifts Shares 0.42% as Stock Ranks 197th in Market Activity

On July 30, 2025, Moody’s Corporation (MCO) traded with a volume of $600 million, a 37.26% increase from the previous day, ranking 197th in market volume. The stock closed up 0.42%.

Insider activity highlighted the day as CFO Noemie Heuland executed a Rule 10b5-1 plan, selling 897.431 shares for approximately $456,000. This reduced her direct ownership to 2,148 shares, while 2,349 options remain exercisable until May 2034. Similarly, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares for $741,360, following an option exercise. Both transactions were part of pre-arranged trading plans, mitigating concerns over opportunistic sales.

Institutional investors showed mixed signals. BlackRock added 1.28 million shares in Q1 2025, while Gamma Investing and Akre Capital slashed holdings by over 99% and 20.9%, respectively. These shifts reflect divergent views on Moody’s valuation and market exposure.

Analysts remained cautiously optimistic, with six firms assigning “Overweight” or “Outperform” ratings. Price targets ranged from $532 to $595, centered around a median of $550. Recent Q2 results, including $3.56 adjusted EPS and $1.9 billion revenue, exceeded expectations, though Raymond James maintained an Underperform rating due to macroeconomic uncertainties.

The strategy of buying the top 500 stocks by daily trading volume and holding for one day yielded a 166.71% return from 2022 to the present, outperforming the benchmark by 137.53% with a 31.89% compound annual growth rate. This underscores the potential of liquidity-driven approaches in capturing market sentiment.