Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Buys 1,171 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,171 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $13,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,041,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 15,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,209,000 after purchasing an additional 4,247 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 316,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $151,029,000 after purchasing an additional 16,099 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 23,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value 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 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 worth $2,137,306 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MCO stock opened at $448.12 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.35. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $402.28 and a twelve month high of $546.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $448.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $469.24.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

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.