Meridiem Capital Partners LP Acquires Shares of 45,197 Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Meridiem Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 45,197 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,535,000. Moody’s comprises 1.4% of Meridiem Capital Partners LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter worth $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO traded up $3.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $430.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 148,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,379,663. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $483.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $488.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.55 billion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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 expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.25.

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.