Erste Asset Management GmbH Reduces Position in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Erste Asset Management GmbH lessened its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,594 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted 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 valued at $142,041,000 after purchasing an additional 10,434 shares during the period. Katamaran Capital LLP bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,275,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 39.0% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 15,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,209,000 after acquiring an additional 4,247 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.4% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 316,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $151,029,000 after acquiring an additional 16,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 24.5% during the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 23,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,186,000 after acquiring an additional 4,625 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Moody’s from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,846,709.88. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $449.88 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $448.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $469.88. Moody’s Corporation has a 1-year low of $402.28 and a 1-year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $78.59 billion, a PE ratio of 32.25, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.35.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.83 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.53%.

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.