Strs Ohio Sells 2,055 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Strs Ohio lessened its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 33,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,055 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,802,195,000 after buying an additional 102,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,551,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,375,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,213,661,000 after acquiring an additional 111,725 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,211,023,000 after purchasing an additional 62,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $1,097,101,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.83.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.2%

Moody’s stock opened at $489.61 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $402.28 and a 1-year high of $546.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $452.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $466.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 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, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098. Corporate 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.