World Investment Advisors Buys 1,176 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

World Investment Advisors raised its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 210.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,735 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, EWA LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $73,689.62. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,473.77. This represents a 6.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,680 shares of company stock worth $3,952,188. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. 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. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Weiss Ratings cut Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.29.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $443.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $77.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $444.71 and its 200 day moving average is $473.55. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $402.28 and a twelve month high of $546.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

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.