Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 1,784 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,784 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $26,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EWA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% in the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 501 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.29.

Moody’s Stock Down 2.0%

MCO opened at $434.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company’s 50-day moving average is $443.96 and its 200 day moving average is $473.29. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.37.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $73,689.62. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,473.77. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 8,680 shares of company stock worth $3,952,188. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.