Natixis Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,244 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of Moody’s worth $80,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays cut their price target on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.4%

MCO opened at $472.14 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $488.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $490.12. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $84.04 billion, a PE ratio of 34.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

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.