Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $14.90 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 19.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,547 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,447 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,755 shares of company stock worth $3,144,524 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Barclays reduced their target price on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price target on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $427.92 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $466.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $484.01. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $546.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.17 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.