Moody’s Corporation $MCO Position Lifted by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 2,846.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 114,735 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 110,841 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $58,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EWA LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 501 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $73,689.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,473.77. This trade represents a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,680 shares of company stock worth $3,952,188. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $428.93 on Monday. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $445.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $473.89. The company has a market cap of $74.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 1.0%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.53%.

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.