Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Decreases Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,362 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $18,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $1,097,101,000. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1,222.0% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 324,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,499,000 after acquiring an additional 299,724 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 340.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 283,744 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $135,198,000 after acquiring an additional 219,251 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10,311.9% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 197,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $94,260,000 after acquiring an additional 195,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,164,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $555,052,000 after acquiring an additional 181,305 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $452.46 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $445.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $471.33. 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 company has a market capitalization of $79.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 2.44 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.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody’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 $171,266.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,952,188. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.