Moody's (NYSE:MCO) SVP Richard Steele Sells 158 Shares

Key Points

• SVP Richard Steele sold 158 shares of Moody's on May 1 at an average price of $466.39 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, trimming his stake by 6.87% to 2,143 shares (worth about $999,474).
• Q1 results beat expectations with EPS $4.33 vs. $4.22 consensus, revenue rose 8.1% year-over-year, and Moody's set FY2026 guidance of 16.40–17.00 EPS (analysts' average ~16.69).
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 (annualized $4.12, yield ~0.9%); shares traded down about 1.3% to $449.64 during midday trading.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) SVP Richard Steele sold 158 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $73,689.62. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,143 shares in the company, valued at $999,473.77. The trade was a 6.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Moody's Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $6.14 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $449.64. 771,902 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,275,432. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $78.55 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $448.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $476.01. Moody's Corporation has a twelve month low of $402.28 and a twelve month high of $546.88.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The firm 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%. The firm's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.83 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody's

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TFR Capital LLC. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. TFR Capital LLC. now owns 4,548 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,984,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,081,807 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $471,963,000 after acquiring an additional 454,684 shares in the last quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 29.4% during the 1st quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 153,000 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $66,746,000 after acquiring an additional 34,800 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 78.2% during the 1st quarter. GHE LLC now owns 28,513 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,439,000 after acquiring an additional 12,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 2,905 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Moody's from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Moody's from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $544.29.

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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