Nordea Investment Management AB Has $284.04 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Nordea Investment Management AB trimmed its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 552,736 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 37,376 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $284,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BAM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth $871,000. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Moody’s by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,041,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 1,942 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised 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 buying an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 135.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 45,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,837,000 after buying an additional 26,388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price objective on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,049.89. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,613,594.19. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $434.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $472.80 and a 200-day moving average of $485.39. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $77.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’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. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.