Moody’s Corporation $MCO is Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC’s 10th Largest Position

Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC cut its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 91,633 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,798 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises approximately 3.8% of Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $43,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price objective on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $464.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $82.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $494.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $492.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.62 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.49%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.90, for a total transaction of $286,867.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,473,809.80. This represents a 0.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.