Hsbc Holdings PLC Grows Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 459,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,855 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.26% of Moody’s worth $200,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 102,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,019,551,000 after purchasing an additional 42,966 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 111,725 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,211,023,000 after buying an additional 62,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,097,101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 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 $665,533.89. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. This trade represents a 2.72% 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 have sold a total of 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of MCO opened at $511.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $460.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $465.69. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $402.28 and a twelve month high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $548.47.

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.