Generation Investment Management LLP Sells 16,905 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Generation Investment Management LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 254,169 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,905 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up about 0.8% of Generation Investment Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Generation Investment Management LLP owned approximately 0.14% of Moody’s worth $121,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth $987,524,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after buying an additional 191,368 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Moody’s by 223.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 102,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,225,000 after buying an additional 184,598 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 91.0% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 235,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,987,000 after buying an additional 112,105 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 200,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $100,414,000 after buying an additional 93,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One investment 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $551.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 592 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.15, for a total transaction of $305,560.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,527,474.30. This represents a 0.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $436.67 on Tuesday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $496.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $493.10. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a market capitalization of $77.42 billion, a PE ratio of 31.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.44.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.62 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.49%.

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.