Generate Investment Management Ltd Takes $19.60 Million Position in Moody's Corporation $MCO

Key Points

• Generate Investment Management Ltd bought 38,364 shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter, establishing a new position worth about $19.60 million, joining institutional owners who hold roughly 92.11% of the stock.
• Moody's beat Q4 expectations with $3.64 EPS versus $3.39 estimated and $1.89 billion revenue (up 13% YoY), and set FY 2026 guidance of 16.400–17.000 EPS.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 (annualized $4.12, ~1.0% yield) even as insiders—including the CEO and an SVP—recently sold shares, leaving insiders with only 0.14% ownership.

Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 38,364 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $19,598,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the second quarter worth $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Moody's from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America began coverage on Moody's in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $550.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Moody's from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $550.25.

Moody's Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE MCO opened at $424.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Moody's Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The company's fifty day moving average price is $462.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $483.08.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody's had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.62 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 6,755 shares of company stock worth $3,144,524 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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