Moody's Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group slashed its stake in Moody’s by 95.5% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with just 559 shares worth about $286,000.
• Moody’s reported Q1 earnings of $4.33 per share, topping estimates, while revenue came in slightly below expectations at $2.08 billion; the company also reaffirmed a FY2026 EPS guidance range of 16.4 to 17.0.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, payable June 5, and insiders have recently sold shares, including CEO Robert Fauber, though analysts still rate the stock Moderate Buy on average.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 95.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 559 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 11,763 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $621,000. Americana Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 16,443 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,400,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998 shares in the last quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 100.2% during the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 3,648 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,793 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,427,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 536 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Moody's Stock Down 0.2%

MCO stock opened at $452.46 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Moody's Corporation has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $445.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $471.33.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody's had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.83 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company'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 of the company's stock, valued at $35,067,397.71. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 158 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $73,689.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $999,473.77. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 8,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,952,188 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

About Moody's

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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