Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 413,412 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 46,153 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $187,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. Barclays increased their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $505.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.61.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MCO stock opened at $493.26 on Monday. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $489.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $462.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.56 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.