Dearborn Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 1,741 Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $760,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% 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. Insiders have sold 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,447,682 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $505.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.61.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE MCO opened at $511.25 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $480.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $458.52. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $88.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.33.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

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.