Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Trims Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 39.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,454 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. DeDora Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $544.29.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:MCO opened at $449.88 on Wednesday. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.35. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $448.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $469.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.53%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the 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 $71,679.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% 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 sold a total of 4,717 shares of company stock worth $2,137,306 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s 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.