Nwam LLC Invests $467,000 in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Nwam LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $467,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,551,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,211,023,000 after purchasing an additional 62,798 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,349,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,024,874,000 after buying an additional 72,043 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $1,097,101,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,716,304 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $876,775,000 after purchasing an additional 726,971 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $505.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $553.61.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $503.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $402.28 and a twelve month high of $546.88. The stock has a market cap of $87.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average is $489.09 and its 200 day moving average is $462.42.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.56 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.13%.

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.