GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. reduced its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 158,415 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,965 shares during the period. Moody’s accounts for about 8.6% of GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $80,926,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,802,195,000 after buying an additional 102,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,551,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,375,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,213,661,000 after purchasing an additional 111,725 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,211,023,000 after acquiring an additional 62,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $1,097,101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.1%

MCO opened at $451.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.35. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $450.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $468.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 29.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% 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. Insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.83.

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.