Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. Takes Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 9,897 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,483,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 806.7% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 9,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 8,220 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $1,097,101,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Moody’s by 78.3% during the fourth quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after buying an additional 2,505 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Moody’s by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 514,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $262,769,000 after buying an additional 143,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TRB Advisors LP grew its holdings in Moody’s by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. TRB Advisors LP now owns 30,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,326,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $505.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $553.61.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. 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 sold 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,447,682. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $515.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $89.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $484.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $460.08.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.Moody’s’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.56 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.13%.

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.