Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Okabena Investment Services Inc.

Okabena Investment Services Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,170,285 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,228,337,000 after buying an additional 163,288 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,644,552,000 after acquiring an additional 83,872 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after purchasing an additional 69,455 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.4% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,291,568,000 after purchasing an additional 35,123 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at $987,524,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $477.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $493.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $491.95. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $546.88. The firm has a market cap of $84.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.89, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.44.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. 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 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 592 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.15, for a total transaction of $305,560.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,527,474.30. This represents a 0.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

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.