Lbp Am Sa Buys 38,017 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Lbp Am Sa dramatically increased its position in Moody's, buying 38,017 shares (a 5,179.4% increase) to hold 38,751 shares worth about $19.8 million at quarter-end.
• Moody's beat quarterly expectations with $3.64 EPS (vs. $3.39 est.) and 13% revenue growth, and set FY2026 guidance of EPS 16.40–17.00.
• Analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $541.69 despite mixed recent cuts, while insiders have recently sold 8,222 shares (insiders now own just 0.14% of the stock).

Lbp Am Sa boosted its stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5,179.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,751 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 38,017 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa's holdings in Moody's were worth $19,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moody's by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,170,285 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,228,337,000 after purchasing an additional 163,288 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $1,213,661,000 after purchasing an additional 111,725 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Moody's by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,447,105 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $689,517,000 after purchasing an additional 91,463 shares during the period. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its position in Moody's by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,164,900 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $555,052,000 after purchasing an additional 181,305 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd grew its position in Moody's by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 1,122,423 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $534,812,000 after purchasing an additional 20,619 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Moody's from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Moody's from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $541.69.

Moody's Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of MCO stock opened at $446.91 on Thursday. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $442.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $477.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The company has a market cap of $79.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. 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 Monday, March 2nd. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 8,222 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,732 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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