Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Bought by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,480 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $23,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $610.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $553.61.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $493.26 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $402.28 and a 1-year high of $546.88. The stock has a market cap of $85.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $489.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $462.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.56 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

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.