Holocene Advisors LP Increases Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 340.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 283,744 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 219,251 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $135,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $987,524,000. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1,222.0% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 324,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,499,000 after acquiring an additional 299,724 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 10,311.9% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 197,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $94,260,000 after acquiring an additional 195,926 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,360,000 after acquiring an additional 191,368 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Moody’s by 223.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 102,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,225,000 after acquiring an additional 184,598 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. 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 three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $550.00 target price on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target 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, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $429.91 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $482.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $487.72. 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 one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $76.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue 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 forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.