Insider Selling: Moody's (NYSE:MCO) CEO Sells $419,965.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Moody’s CEO Robert Fauber sold 923 shares for approximately $419,965 at an average price of $455, reducing his direct holdings by 1.77% to 51,364 shares. The transaction was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Moody’s shares fell to $441.40, while the company reported quarterly earnings and revenue above analyst expectations: $4.68 in EPS versus $4.26 expected and $2.19 billion in revenue versus $2.09 billion expected.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $555.12, compared with the stock’s recent trading level. Moody’s also pays a quarterly dividend of $1.03, yielding approximately 0.9%.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) CEO Robert Fauber sold 923 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $419,965.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,370,620. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Robert Fauber also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 3rd, Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody's stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $5.96 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $441.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,602,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,071,233. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $482.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $464.69. The stock has a market cap of $76.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.35. 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 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. Moody's's revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.56 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Moody's from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $610.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $555.12.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 3.8% during the first quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 623 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 87.1% in the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.3% during the first quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 10,832 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,726,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Company Profile

Moody's Corporation NYSE: MCO is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, and analytical tools. Through Moody's Ratings, the company evaluates the creditworthiness of companies, governments, financial institutions, and structured finance securities, offering opinions and research used by investors, issuers, and other market participants.

Through Moody's Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, risk assessment tools, data, and software. Its products support credit and market risk management, compliance, portfolio analysis, lending, insurance, and corporate planning.

Moody's traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody published an analysis of railroad securities.

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