Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV Acquires Shares of 1,215 Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 1,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1,222.0% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 324,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,499,000 after acquiring an additional 299,724 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in Moody’s by 340.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 283,744 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $135,198,000 after purchasing an additional 219,251 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Moody’s by 10,311.9% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 197,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $94,260,000 after acquiring an additional 195,926 shares during the period. Windacre Partnership LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,164,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $555,052,000 after acquiring an additional 181,305 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $86,930,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $73,689.62. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,473.77. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 8,680 shares of company stock worth $3,952,188 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9%

MCO opened at $449.30 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $443.54 and its 200-day moving average is $472.64. The company has a market capitalization of $78.49 billion, a PE ratio of 32.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.37.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 29.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price target on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Moody’s Company 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.