Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA lowered its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 23.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,482 shares during the quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.2%

MCO stock opened at $489.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $452.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $466.21.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $541.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 dated 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 owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% 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 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.