Richard Steele Sells 158 Shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Stock

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) SVP Richard Steele sold 158 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $448.59 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $446.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $470.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $78.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.16, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.35. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued 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 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%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $1,097,101,000. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $395,096,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,716,304 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $876,775,000 after purchasing an additional 726,971 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 72.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,081,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $471,963,000 after purchasing an additional 454,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 50,985.1% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 420,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,777,000 after purchasing an additional 419,607 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Moody’s

Here are the key news stories impacting Moody’s this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moody’s will host a June 8 Q&A session focused on its generative AI strategy, including partnerships and product innovation. That could reassure investors that the company is investing in higher-growth, technology-enabled offerings. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain moderately optimistic on MCO, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and price targets above the current share price, which may help support the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Moody’s chief economist warning that a potential Iran war could cost U.S. households about $100 billion is more of a macro commentary than a direct company-specific catalyst, so its stock impact is unclear. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales by CEO Robert Fauber and SVP Richard Steele may create a modest negative signal, even though both transactions were made under pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Moody’s has lagged the broader broker-dealers and securities exchanges group over the past year, and that relative underperformance may be keeping some investors cautious. Article Title

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.