Arax Advisory Partners Sells 4,923 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Arax Advisory Partners cut its Moody’s stake by 56% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,923 shares and ending with 3,861 shares valued at about $1.97 million.
• Moody’s insiders also sold shares recently, including CEO Robert Fauber and SVP Richard G. Steele, with total insider sales of 4,717 shares worth about $2.14 million over the last three months.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly EPS of $4.33 and raised FY2026 guidance, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $544.29.

Arax Advisory Partners lessened its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 56.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,861 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,923 shares during the period. Arax Advisory Partners' holdings in Moody's were worth $1,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,802,195,000 after purchasing an additional 102,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,019,551,000 after purchasing an additional 42,966 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $1,213,661,000 after purchasing an additional 111,725 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,211,023,000 after purchasing an additional 62,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at $1,097,101,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business'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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at $35,067,397.71. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 4,717 shares of company stock worth $2,137,306 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moody's from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Moody's from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Moody's from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Moody's Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of MCO opened at $454.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $79.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.56, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.35. Moody's Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $448.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $469.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.83 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued 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 yield of 0.9%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

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.

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