Wealthfront Advisers LLC Has $10.72 Million Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 20.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,114 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at $35,067,397.71. The trade was 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $610.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody’s from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $548.47.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.5%

MCO opened at $511.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. 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 $89.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $460.53 and its 200 day moving average is $465.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 29.53%.

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.