Moody's (NYSE:MCO) SVP Sells $71,679.86 in Stock

Key Points

• Moody’s SVP Richard Steele sold 158 shares on June 1 at an average price of $453.67, totaling about $71,680. After the sale, he still held 1,985 shares valued at roughly $900,535.
• The stock fell 2.3% in Tuesday trading, closing around $453.39, with volume below its average. Moody’s remains a large-cap company with a market value of about $79.21 billion.
• Moody’s recently beat earnings expectations, reporting $4.33 EPS versus the $4.22 consensus, while revenue rose 8.1% year over year. The company also reiterated FY 2026 EPS guidance of $16.40 to $17.00 and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) SVP Richard Steele sold 158 shares of the company'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 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. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Moody's Stock Down 2.3%

Moody's stock traded down $10.81 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $453.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,040,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,236,541. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm's fifty day moving average is $445.88 and its 200-day moving average is $471.14. 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 - 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 the consensus estimate 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.83 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 29.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in Moody's by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its stake in Moody's by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Moody's by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,334,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $544.29.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.