Saudi Central Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Saudi Central Bank increased its Moody’s stake by 78% in the second quarter, ending the period with 10,549 shares valued at approximately $4.78 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.11% of Moody’s stock.
• Moody’s exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.68 in EPS and $2.19 billion in revenue, with revenue up 15.1% year over year. The company guided to fiscal 2026 EPS of $16.50–$17.00.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $553.61 versus the stock’s reported price of $493.26. Moody’s also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03, equal to a 0.8% annualized yield.

Saudi Central Bank raised its holdings in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 78.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,549 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,623 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank's holdings in Moody's were worth $4,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,019,551,000 after purchasing an additional 42,966 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,211,023,000 after buying an additional 62,798 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Moody's by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,349,281 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,024,874,000 after purchasing an additional 72,043 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at $1,097,101,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,716,304 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $876,775,000 after acquiring an additional 726,971 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $493.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $85.43 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.34. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $489.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $462.89. Moody's Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody's had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.56 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Moody's from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 price target on Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Moody's from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Moody's from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $553.61.

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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