Private Advisor Group LLC Purchases 1,072 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 24.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 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 worth $968,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCO. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $545.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $487.17 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $466.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company has a market cap of $85.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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