Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Boosts Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Mirae Asset raised its stake in Moody's by 10.4% in Q4 to 27,841 shares valued at $14.223 million, and overall hedge funds and other institutional investors now own about 92.11% of the stock.
• Moody's beat quarterly expectations (EPS $3.64 vs. $3.39; revenue $1.89B vs. $1.87B), set FY2026 guidance of 16.40–17.00 EPS, and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03 (annualized $4.12, ~0.9% yield).
• Analysts hold a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $541.69, though notes are mixed — Daiwa upgraded to "outperform" (PT $590) while several firms trimmed price targets.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,841 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,623 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $14,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Moody's by 1.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Moody's by 4.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Moody's by 6.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC boosted its position in Moody's by 18.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd boosted its position in Moody's by 1.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Daiwa Securities Group raised Moody's from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Moody's from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Moody's from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on 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, Wall Street Zen downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $541.69.

Moody's Stock Performance

Moody's stock opened at $455.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $442.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $477.56. The company has a market capitalization of $81.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.45. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. 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. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $33,046,819.53. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody'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 sale, the senior vice president directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety 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

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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