Vise Technologies Inc. Boosts Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Vise Technologies Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 39.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $7,802,195,000 after purchasing an additional 102,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $2,019,551,000 after purchasing an additional 42,966 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.9% in the 4th 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. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,097,101,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,447,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $689,517,000 after purchasing an additional 91,463 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $451.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 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 company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $447.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $470.24.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 29.53%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 4,717 shares of company stock worth $2,137,306 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by 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.