Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 2.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 238,947 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,530 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $104,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $565.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.61.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents 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 sold 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $483.14 on Thursday. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $83.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $467.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $463.37.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.56 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.82 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given 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 is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

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.