Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Bought by Legato Capital Management LLC

Legato Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 100.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,826 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at $267,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 15.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.2% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 25,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,692,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,423,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,613,594.19. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 8,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,952,188 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho lowered their target price on Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.29.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:MCO opened at $449.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $402.28 and a 1-year high of $546.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $443.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $472.64.

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, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.53%.

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.