Royal Bank of Canada Sells 2,895 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Royal Bank of Canada cut its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 786,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,895 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.45% of Moody’s worth $343,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its stake 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 worth $2,913,000 after buying an additional 2,505 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $1,097,101,000. LBP AM SA raised 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 valued at $19,796,000 after acquiring an additional 38,017 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 514,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $262,769,000 after acquiring an additional 143,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 111,725 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MCO. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.61.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $483.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $467.66 and its 200 day moving average is $463.37.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

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.