Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by LGT Group Foundation

LGT Group Foundation decreased its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,775 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCO. BAM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter worth about $871,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 647,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $308,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 135.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,291,568,000 after purchasing an additional 35,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,755 shares of company stock worth $3,144,524 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Daiwa Securities Group raised Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.9%

MCO stock opened at $462.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.83, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $487.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $489.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% 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 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. 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%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Moody’s 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.