Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd lowered its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 807,981 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 28,590 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $366,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1,866.7% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’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 transaction of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. 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, July 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $512.00 to $470.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $555.74.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock traded up $18.58 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $481.35. 475,035 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,051,603. The company has a market capitalization of $83.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $477.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $466.10. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, and analytical tools. Through Moody’s Ratings, the company evaluates the creditworthiness of companies, governments, financial institutions, and structured finance securities, offering opinions and research used by investors, issuers, and other market participants.

Through Moody’s Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, risk assessment tools, data, and software. Its products support credit and market risk management, compliance, portfolio analysis, lending, insurance, and corporate planning.

Moody’s traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody published an analysis of railroad securities.