Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Purchased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 2.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 817,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,479 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $389,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter worth $31,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 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 $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody’s 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 6,755 shares of company stock worth $3,144,524 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $469.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $489.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $490.70. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.