Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC cut its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 49.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 121,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 116,958 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $53,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Moody’s by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,041,000 after buying an additional 10,434 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 218,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,796,000 after acquiring an additional 48,240 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $1,097,101,000. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 14.7% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 41,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,924,000 after purchasing an additional 5,362 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $487.17. 510,730 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 996,152. The company has a market capitalization of $85.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $455.50 and its 200-day moving average is $466.07. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $545.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the 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 $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 represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% 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. Insiders sold a total of 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Moody’s

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.