Maestria Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Maestria Partners LLC lowered its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises approximately 4.7% of Maestria Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Maestria Partners LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $13,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC now owns 1,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $889,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $505.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $553.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.8%

MCO opened at $503.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $87.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $489.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $462.42.

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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

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.