Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Stock Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Brown Brothers Harriman boosted its stake in Moody's by 14% in Q3 to 28,702 shares, valued at about $13.68 million, while institutional ownership stands at roughly 92.11%.
• Q results and guidance: Moody's beat estimates with $3.64 EPS (vs. $3.39) and $1.89B revenue (vs. $1.87B), revenue rose 13% YoY, and the company set FY2026 EPS guidance of 16.40–17.00.
• Capital returns and insider activity: Moody's raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03 (annualized $4.12, ~1.0% yield), while insiders have sold about 6,755 shares worth roughly $3.14 million in the past 90 days.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,702 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,530 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $13,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Moody's during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody's in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $429.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a market capitalization of $76.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $482.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $488.04.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.62 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Moody's's payout ratio is 30.12%.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,755 shares of company stock worth $3,144,524. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Daiwa Securities Group raised Moody's from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $550.25.

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.

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