Carderock Capital Management Inc. Cuts Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Carderock Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,313 shares during the quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. DeDora Capital Inc. increased its holdings in 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. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 0.3% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,447,682 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.61.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $483.33 on Wednesday. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a market capitalization of $83.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $470.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $461.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 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.