Fiduciary Alliance LLC Reduces Stake in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Fiduciary Alliance LLC reduced its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 87.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,685 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter worth $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 target price on Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’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 $71,679.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $450.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $450.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $466.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.35. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue 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, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 29.53%.

About Moody’s

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.