CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Has $223,000 Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA cut its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 68.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 512 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,106 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $30,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of MCO opened at $489.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $451.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $466.05. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.83.

Moody’s 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.