Baillie Gifford & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 687,046 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 51,594 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 0.39% of Moody's worth $350,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dara Capital US Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $719,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Moody's by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 168,023 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $85,835,000 after buying an additional 18,374 shares in the last quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,151,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. TI Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY grew its holdings in Moody's by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 956 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Tuesday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $547.94.
View Our Latest Analysis on Moody's
Moody's Price Performance
Moody's stock opened at $427.68 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $76.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $445.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $478.67.
Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.87 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.62 EPS. 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 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.
Moody's Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.
Insider Activity
In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.77, for a total value of $642,208.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,046,819.53. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,222 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,732. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.
Moody's Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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