Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 29,152 Shares of Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Banque Pictet & Cie SA sold 29,152 shares of Moody's Corporation, decreasing its holdings by 25%, now owning a total of 87,581 shares valued at approximately $43.93 million.
• Several institutional investors raised their positions in Moody's, with Vanguard Group Inc. increasing its stake by 0.8% to $6.9 billion and Goldman Sachs growing its position by 21%.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Moody's stock, with estimates ranging from $515 to $580, highlighting a "Moderate Buy" consensus rating based on ten buy and five hold recommendations.

Banque Pictet & Cie SA decreased its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,581 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 29,152 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Moody's were worth $43,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,899,490,000 after acquiring an additional 119,548 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody's by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,159,185,000 after purchasing an additional 215,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,651,495 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $769,085,000 after purchasing an additional 60,816 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $738,897,000 after purchasing an additional 140,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody's by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,777,000 after buying an additional 265,389 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $540.71.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total transaction of $212,749.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,812,135. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Moody's stock opened at $472.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $506.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.29. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

About Moody's

Moody's Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody's Analytics and Moody's Investors Services. The Moody's Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.

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