Aviva PLC Grows Stock Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Aviva PLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 299,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,927 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $153,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Wealth Watch Advisors INC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $544.29.

Moody’s Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $441.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $77.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $448.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $469.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $402.28 and a 1-year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’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 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 ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock worth $2,137,306. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.