King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO – Free Report) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 263,396 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,759 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $134,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,802,195,000 after buying an additional 102,682 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,375,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,213,661,000 after buying an additional 111,725 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,447,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $689,517,000 after buying an additional 91,463 shares in the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,164,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $555,052,000 after buying an additional 181,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 1,122,423 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $534,812,000 after buying an additional 20,619 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.
Moody’s Stock Performance
Shares of MCO opened at $452.03 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $444.46 and its 200-day moving average is $472.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88.
Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Moody’s Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 29.53%.
Insider Activity at Moody’s
In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 8,680 shares of company stock worth $3,952,188 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.
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.
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