Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Sells 2,155 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG cut its holdings in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 6.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 33,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,155 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $15,086,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.1% in the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 923 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $419,965.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,370,620. This represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $479.95. The stock had a trading volume of 698,214 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,049,441. Moody’s Corporation has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $477.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $467.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.35.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.92 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. Weiss Ratings raised Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $523.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Moody’s to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $587.00 to $594.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $551.26.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, analytics and risk-management solutions. Through Moody’s Investors Service, the company assigns credit ratings and publishes research on corporate, government and structured-finance debt issuers, helping investors and other market participants evaluate credit risk.

Through Moody’s Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, data, software and advisory services. Its offerings support credit analysis, lending, portfolio management, enterprise risk management, compliance and related functions across financial institutions, corporations, governments and other organizations.

Moody’s traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody established the company that introduced published credit ratings for bonds.