United Financial Planning Group LLC Invests $602,000 in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

United Financial Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $602,000. Moody’s makes up 0.3% of United Financial Planning Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. VestGen Advisors LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. EWA LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% in the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 501 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 0.4% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other 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 value of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 6,755 shares of company stock worth $3,144,524 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.25.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE MCO opened at $429.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $482.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $488.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

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.