Moody’s Corporation $MCO Stake Boosted by Sage Rhino Capital LLC

Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 173.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,243 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during the quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.4% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,334,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho cut their price target on Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at $35,067,397.71. This trade 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. Insiders have sold a total of 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock traded up $3.48 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $502.26. 122,626 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,201,414. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $452.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $466.06. The firm has a market cap of $87.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.00, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

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.