Carnegie Investment Counsel Boosts Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 348.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,851 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,770 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,243,000. Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 1.2% during the first quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 50,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,159,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 1.6% during the first quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,650,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Moody’s by 7.2% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 4,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Moody’s by 135.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 79,163 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,535,000 after acquiring an additional 45,576 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody’s from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $545.06.

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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold a total of 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of MCO stock opened at $495.95 on Tuesday. 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 $86.64 billion, a PE ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.34. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $456.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $465.63.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its 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 firm 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 revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

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.