Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Makes New $24.67 Million Investment in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 48,209 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,665,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1.5% during 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. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 2.7% during 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 increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $171,266.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,952,188. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 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 report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.29.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $452.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $79.05 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $445.30 and a 200-day moving average of $471.43. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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 expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 29.53%.

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.