LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 88.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,225 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $545.06.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $487.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $85.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $402.28 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $455.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $465.76.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 29.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,846,709.88. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.