Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 48.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,706 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,097,101,000. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $395,096,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Moody’s by 315.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 417,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,424,000 after purchasing an additional 317,245 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in Moody’s by 1,222.0% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 324,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $154,499,000 after purchasing an additional 299,724 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in Moody’s by 340.0% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 283,744 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $135,198,000 after purchasing an additional 219,251 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.29.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $468.97 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $449.51 and a 200-day moving average of $468.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $81.93 billion, a PE ratio of 33.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.35. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $402.28 and a 1-year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

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.