Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Invests $5.60 Million in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 11,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,872,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.4% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 32,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,607,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 111.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 118,872 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,640,000 after purchasing an additional 62,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Promus Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Promus Capital LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 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 $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares in the company, valued at $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MCO. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho cut their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $524.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.25.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $452.06 on Wednesday. Moody’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $486.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $489.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.62 earnings per share. The firm’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. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.