1,919 Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Purchased by Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc.

Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 146,162 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,919 shares during the period. Moody’s makes up 6.2% of Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Armstrong Henry H Associates Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Moody’s worth $66,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,349,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,024,874,000 after buying an additional 72,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,420,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $643,191,000 after acquiring an additional 33,024 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 72.5% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,081,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,963,000 after acquiring an additional 454,684 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,011,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $458,126,000 after acquiring an additional 168,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 882,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $385,188,000 after acquiring an additional 59,121 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned 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 $552.65.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE MCO traded down $4.23 on Wednesday, hitting $448.09. 253,016 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,063,757. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $480.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $464.90.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 26.13%.

Moody’s Profile

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, and analytical tools. Through Moody’s Ratings, the company evaluates the creditworthiness of companies, governments, financial institutions, and structured finance securities, offering opinions and research used by investors, issuers, and other market participants.

Through Moody’s Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, risk assessment tools, data, and software. Its products support credit and market risk management, compliance, portfolio analysis, lending, insurance, and corporate planning.

Moody’s traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody published an analysis of railroad securities.