Short Interest in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Expands By 33.0%

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,182,593 shares, a growth of 33.0% from the March 15th total of 2,392,301 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,240,594 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.77, for a total value of $642,208.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,046,819.53. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 8,222 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,732 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth about $267,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 6.2% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Moody’s by 3.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 25,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,692,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,423,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price objective on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Moody’s from $660.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $541.69.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.6%

MCO traded up $7.25 on Friday, hitting $455.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,538,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,280,965. The company has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $442.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $477.74.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The firm’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.62 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

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.