Moody's (MCO) RSU sell-vs-hold
Calculator · free · no signup · MCOSell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling Moody's RSUs at vest vs. holding through the LTCG cliff at 12 months.
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Your vest
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1 yr
$47,709
Sell + invest wins by $4,981 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Heads-up: under-withholding. Your employer withholds federal tax at the IRS supplemental rate (22.0% on this vest, ≈ $17,600). Your marginal federal rate on this vest is 32.7%, owing $26,171. Expect to settle the $8,571 gap at tax time.
The hidden purchase
Tax was paid at vest either way. Holding is mathematically equivalent to taking $44,509 in after-tax cash and buying $44,509 of MCO today.
Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in MCO. Holding past one year converts the gain to LTCG.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$1,160 |
| Additional Medicare | −$720 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $4,451 |
| Cap-gain tax on diversified gain — LTCG (federal + state + NIIT) | −$1,251 |
| Net at year 1 yr | $47,709 |
Sell every share at vest; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Hold 1 yr
| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Vest tax (federal + state + FICA) | |
| Net at year 1 yr | $42,728 |
Sold 444 shares to cover vest tax (net-settled); kept 556 shares 1 yr to qualify for long-term capital gains.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're still employed at vest.
Both columns are stated in year-1 yr dollars. The sell side compounds at the market return; the hold side compounds at your single-stock expected return after a 20% volatility drag.
Estimates only. Assumes net-settled (sell-to-cover) vesting; double-trigger and pre-IPO RSUs are out of scope. Excludes multi-state moves, AMT interactions on other equity, and 83(b) elections. Not financial advice.
You evaluated one RSU vest. The beta plans every vest of every grant across years, with concentration and AMT in the loop.
Request beta access →Related calculators: RSU Lot Order Calculator · Stock Concentration Calculator
About Moody's
Moody's (MCO) is a public Data company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York, NY.
Equity grants at Moody's typically include restricted stock units (RSUs).
Moody's Corporation is an American business and financial services company. It is the holding company for Moody's Ratings, an American credit rating agency, and Moody's, an American provider of financial analysis software and services.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
John Moody published the first bond ratings manual in 1909, and the company separated from Dun and Bradstreet in 2000. Ratings on corporate, sovereign, and structured debt generate most profit, priced per issuance, which ties revenue to bond market activity and makes rate-driven issuance droughts painful. Moody's Analytics sells risk software, economic data, and research on a subscription basis to smooth that cyclicality. The firm settled with regulators over pre-crisis mortgage securities ratings. Headquarters are in New York City.
Sources: moodys.com · en.wikipedia.org
Equity comp at Moody's
- RSUs use single-trigger vesting: shares become yours as each portion vests on schedule, and the value is taxed as ordinary income at that point. No IPO or acquisition is required.
Researched 2026-08-17.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Moody's.
Moody's (MCO) RSUs vest as ordinary income at the price on vest day. The decision is whether to sell at vest and reinvest, or hold the shares through the 12-month LTCG cliff. This calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare like-for-like.
All Moody's tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company. Diversifying multiple RSU lots? See the lot-by-lot sell order →
Moody's equity questions
- Should I sell or hold my Moody's RSUs at vest?
- Moody's restricted stock units (RSUs) are taxed as ordinary income on their value at vest whether or not you sell. The only open decision is what to do with the shares afterward: sell at vest and reinvest, or hold past twelve months for long-term capital-gains treatment on any further gain. The calculator above runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare them directly.
- Does Moody's grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Moody's typically takes the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do Moody's RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. Moody's restricted stock units (RSUs) use single-trigger vesting: each tranche becomes yours as it vests on schedule, taxed as ordinary income at that point, with no liquidity event required.
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