Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 15.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,375 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $7,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.83.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $489.61 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $85.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $452.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $466.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.