Bank of Montreal Can Boosts Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 7.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 141,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,473 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.08% of Moody’s worth $67,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Moody’s by 6.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,447,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $689,517,000 after acquiring an additional 91,463 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 4,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $238,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 498,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $237,689,000 after buying an additional 2,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 1,249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at $34,613,594.19. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Bank of America began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $550.00 target price for the company. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $425.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $483.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $488.60.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

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.