Chilton Investment Co. Inc. Acquires 8,698 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Chilton Investment Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 260,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,698 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises about 2.5% of Chilton Investment Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Chilton Investment Co. Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $124,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $429.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $76.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $482.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $487.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.62 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

Moody’s Company 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.