Blue Edge Capital LLC Takes $514,000 Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Blue Edge Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter worth $51,680,000. Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $760,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,979,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth $42,717,000. Finally, Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. bought a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth $5,161,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the company’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 $71,679.86. Following the sale, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,447,682 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.0%

MCO opened at $509.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $88.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $483.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $459.69. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

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.