Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Purchased by Legato Capital Management LLC

Legato Capital Management LLC raised its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 100.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 15.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 6.2% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Moody’s by 3.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 25,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,692,000 after acquiring an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Moody’s by 0.4% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,423,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $565.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of 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 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.29.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $449.30 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $443.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $472.64. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.49 billion, a PE ratio of 32.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $73,689.62. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,143 shares in the company, valued at $999,473.77. This represents a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 8,680 shares of company stock worth $3,952,188 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Moody’s

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.