Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC Has $43.66 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,633 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,798 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises about 3.8% of Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC owned 0.05% of Moody’s worth $43,661,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. VestGen Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.0% in the second quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. EWA LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 4.4% in the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 501 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV boosted its stake in Moody’s by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 693 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.25.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.6%

Moody’s stock opened at $464.30 on Thursday. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 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 company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.62 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 27.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 592 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.15, for a total value of $305,560.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $31,527,474.30. This represents a 0.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Company 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.