Cantillon Capital Management LLC Has $171.23 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Cantillon Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 11.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 392,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 52,887 shares during the quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $171,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. This trade represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $548.47.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $511.14 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $460.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $465.32. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Moody’s

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.