K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Sells 1,100 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc trimmed its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 8.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCO. VestGen Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. EWA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% during the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 501 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 693 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 592 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.15, for a total value of $305,560.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,527,474.30. This trade represents a 0.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $464.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $82.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $494.56 and a 200-day moving average of $492.45. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 27.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

About Moody’s

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.