Saudi Central Bank Boosts Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Saudi Central Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 78.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,623 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 806.7% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 9,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 8,220 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,097,101,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in Moody’s by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 514,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $262,769,000 after acquiring an additional 143,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,665,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $493.26 on Monday. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $402.28 and a twelve month high of $546.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The company has a market capitalization of $85.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $489.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $462.89.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.56 earnings per share. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $505.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 insiders.

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.