Calamos Wealth Management LLC Buys 3,500 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 16.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $665,533.89. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. This trade represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $545.06.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $495.95 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $86.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.55, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $456.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $465.63.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.