Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 166,696 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 76.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 52,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 166,696 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $22,749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its position in Moody’s by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $541.83.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE:MCO opened at $450.40 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $450.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $466.72. The company has a market capitalization of $78.68 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. Moody’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 4,717 shares of company stock worth $2,137,306. 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.