BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments Reduces Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments cut its Moody’s stake by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 9,327 shares and ending with 43,293 shares worth about $22.3 million.
• Institutional ownership in Moody’s remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 92.11% of the company. Several large investors, including Vanguard and Geode Capital, also increased their positions during the period.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on Moody’s despite some price-target cuts: the stock carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average target price of $544.29. Moody’s also reported quarterly EPS of $4.33, beat estimates, and recently paid a $1.03 per share dividend.

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments lessened its position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,293 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 9,327 shares during the quarter. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments' holdings in Moody's were worth $22,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,802,195,000 after buying an additional 102,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,019,551,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody's by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,375,768 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,213,661,000 after acquiring an additional 111,725 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,097,101,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Moody's by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,447,105 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $689,517,000 after acquiring an additional 91,463 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Moody's from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Moody's from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price objective on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $544.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody's Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:MCO opened at $444.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $447.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $470.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.11 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.Moody's's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.83 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 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.

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