ABC Arbitrage SA Takes $545,000 Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,249 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,041,000 after buying an additional 10,434 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP raised its stake in Moody’s by 78.3% during the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,505 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Moody’s by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 218,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $111,796,000 after acquiring an additional 48,240 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,097,101,000. Finally, LBP AM SA boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 5,179.4% in the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 38,751 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,796,000 after purchasing an additional 38,017 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $495.95 on Tuesday. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $456.18 and its 200 day moving average is $465.63. The company has a market cap of $86.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.55, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $565.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $545.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $23,846,709.88. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098. Company 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.