Renaissance Group LLC Has $32.36 Million Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Renaissance Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 63,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,768 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $32,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Moody’s by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,334,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCO. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 4,717 shares of company stock worth $2,137,306 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.2%

Moody’s stock opened at $450.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $448.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $469.72. The firm has a market cap of $78.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.35.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. 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.