Empowered Funds LLC Increases Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC increased its Moody’s stake by 22% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 20,926 shares valued at approximately $9.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.11% of MCO.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with Moody’s receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $553.61. Recent targets range from $500 to $610.
• Moody’s exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.68 in EPS and $2.19 billion in revenue, up 15.1% year over year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, representing a 0.9% annualized yield.

Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 22.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,926 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,773 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $9,129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 1,866.7% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $610.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $565.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Moody's from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $553.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody'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 value of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 0.1%

MCO stock opened at $482.55 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $468.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $463.02. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $83.58 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody's had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.56 EPS. The business's revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 16.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 26.13%.

Moody's Company 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.

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