Oak Harvest Investment Services Takes Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Oak Harvest Investment Services acquired a new stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 23,982 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,251,000. Moody’s makes up approximately 0.5% of Oak Harvest Investment Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. BAM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter worth about $871,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Moody’s by 3.6% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,041,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 0.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 647,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $308,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 3.1% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 73,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Moody’s by 135.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 45,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,837,000 after purchasing an additional 26,388 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price target on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Bank of America began coverage on Moody’s in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price target for the company. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.69.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at $34,613,594.19. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,222 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,732. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE MCO opened at $455.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $402.28 and a 1-year high of $546.88. The company has a 50 day moving average of $442.77 and a 200-day moving average of $477.57. The company has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

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.