Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Decreases Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG reduced its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 5.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,994 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $24,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $987,524,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $135,968,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $712,777,000 after acquiring an additional 265,389 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 10.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after acquiring an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,360,000 after acquiring an additional 191,368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho upped their price target on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $543.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,154 shares of company stock worth $1,041,098. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $511.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.09, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $491.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $495.11.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

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.