North Dakota State Investment Board Makes New Investment in Moody’s Corporation $MCO
by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat GemNorth Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO – Free Report) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 5,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,000.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. DeDora Capital Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $672,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $385,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, EWA LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% during the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 501 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research firms have recently commented on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $489.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.29.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Moody’s
Moody’s Trading Up 3.4%
NYSE:MCO opened at $443.34 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $77.45 billion, a PE ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $444.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $473.55. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88. 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 (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.Moody’s’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Moody’s Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 29.53%.
Insider Transactions at Moody’s
In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $73,689.62. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,473.77. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,067,397.71. This trade represents a 1.91% 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 have sold a total of 8,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,952,188 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
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.
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