Danske Bank A S Makes New $42.72 Million Investment in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 94,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,717,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth approximately $5,161,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,928,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $914,721,000. Tema ETFs LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 5,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Matrix Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 21.7% during the second quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 1,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $761,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,447,682 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.3%

MCO stock opened at $497.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $86.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.53, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $476.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $458.46. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $610.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.61.

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.