Kentucky Retirement Systems Boosts Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Posted by Brian Himes on Jul 30th, 2026

Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO – Free Report) by 60.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,868 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Qsemble Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 78.3% during the fourth quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,505 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $1,097,101,000. LBP AM SA increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5,179.4% in the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 38,751 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,796,000 after purchasing an additional 38,017 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 514,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $262,769,000 after purchasing an additional 143,515 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,213,661,000 after buying an additional 111,725 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $565.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 price objective on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.61.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Moody’s

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $483.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $467.66 and a 200 day moving average of $463.37. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Profile

(Free Report)

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.