Moody's Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC cut its Moody’s stake by 80% in the fourth quarter, selling 17,387 shares and ending with 4,347 shares valued at about $2.22 million.
• Other institutional investors remain heavily invested in Moody’s, with firms like Vanguard, Geode Capital, and Norges Bank maintaining or adding to positions. Overall, institutions own 92.11% of the company’s stock.
• Moody’s reported better-than-expected earnings of $4.33 per share in its latest quarter, while revenue came in slightly below estimates. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, implying an annual yield of about 0.9%.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 80.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,347 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 17,387 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moody's by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,802,195,000 after buying an additional 102,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Moody's by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,019,551,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Moody's by 4.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 111,725 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Moody's by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,211,023,000 after acquiring an additional 62,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,097,101,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $541.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Moody's stock opened at $451.20 on Friday. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $78.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $450.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $468.26.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

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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