118,321 Shares in Moody’s Corporation $MCO Acquired by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 118,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $60,444,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth approximately $267,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Moody’s by 15.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 6.2% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Moody’s by 3.8% during 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 period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in 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 worth $36,423,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% 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. Insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock worth $2,137,306 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $451.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.35. 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $447.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $470.24.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut 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 note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Moody’s 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.