Rathbones Group PLC Sells 2,428 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Rathbones Group PLC lowered its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 32.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,428 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. BAM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $871,000. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased 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. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Moody’s by 135.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 45,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,837,000 after buying an additional 26,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Katamaran Capital LLP acquired a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter worth $4,275,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at $34,613,594.19. The trade was 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 available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,680 shares of company stock worth $3,952,188. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $449.30 on Friday. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $78.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $443.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $472.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

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.