Rathbones Group PLC Cuts Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 32.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,428 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BAM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at about $871,000. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Moody’s by 3.6% in the third 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position 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 valued at $21,837,000 after purchasing an additional 26,388 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MCO. Wall Street Zen lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $547.94.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,222 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,732 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $438.21 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $450.08 and a 200-day moving average of $479.56. 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 company has a market capitalization of $78.00 billion, a PE ratio of 32.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $385.61 and a 1-year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.62 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities 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 dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was 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.