NewEdge Wealth LLC Buys 1,870 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 31.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,870 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BAM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $871,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Moody’s by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,041,000 after acquiring an additional 10,434 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 647,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $308,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Moody’s by 135.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 45,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,837,000 after acquiring an additional 26,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Katamaran Capital LLP bought a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,275,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:MCO opened at $448.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $78.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.37. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $402.28 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $447.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $475.18.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $73,689.62. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,473.77. This trade represents a 6.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,952,188. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $544.29.

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.