Moody’s Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA cut its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,584 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $37,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BAM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $871,000. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 298,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,041,000 after buying an additional 10,434 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,942 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 3.1% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 73,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in 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 worth $21,837,000 after acquiring an additional 26,388 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 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 $2,380,829.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $439.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $456.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $481.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.62 EPS. The company’s revenue 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. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio 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.