Rehmann Capital Advisory Group Decreases Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lowered its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,164 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,476 shares during the quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $987,524,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Moody’s by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Moody’s by 223.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 102,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,225,000 after purchasing an additional 184,598 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Moody’s by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 401,396 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $191,259,000 after purchasing an additional 166,159 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 200,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $100,414,000 after purchasing an additional 93,244 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO traded up $4.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $430.82. The stock had a trading volume of 148,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,379,663. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $483.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $488.60. The stock has a market cap of $76.69 billion, a PE ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The company’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.62 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

Moody’s Company 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.