Jennison Associates LLC Sells 3,373 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Jennison Associates LLC decreased its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,373 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BAM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $871,000. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,041,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 647,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $308,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 73,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 135.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 45,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,837,000 after acquiring an additional 26,388 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.77, for a total transaction of $642,208.59. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,046,819.53. This trade represents a 1.91% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 8,222 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,732 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $456.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $448.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $476.05. The company has a market cap of $79.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.37. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.83 EPS. Moody’s’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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $489.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

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.