Allen Investment Management LLC Sells 8,942 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Allen Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 719,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,942 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for 4.1% of Allen Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Allen Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $367,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, April 28th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.6%

MCO stock opened at $464.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $445.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $471.14. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $73,689.62. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,473.77. This trade represents a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,400,092. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.