Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Purchases 1,171 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,171 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $13,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 0.4% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. This trade represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. The trade was 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $448.12 on Monday. 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 $78.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $448.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $469.24. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. Barclays dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $565.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

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.