Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 45,576 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 135.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 79,163 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 45,576 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Moody's were worth $34,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in Moody's by 1,866.7% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody's from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Moody's from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody's from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Moody's from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $545.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody'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 directly owned 1,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at $23,846,709.88. This represents a 2.72% 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. Insiders sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of MCO opened at $487.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $85.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.34. 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 Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $455.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $465.76.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 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.

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