Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Acquires 9,600 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 246.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,600 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,097,101,000. Egerton Capital UK LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $395,096,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Moody’s by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,716,304 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $876,775,000 after acquiring an additional 726,971 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Moody’s by 50,985.1% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 420,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,777,000 after acquiring an additional 419,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Moody’s by 315.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 417,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,424,000 after purchasing an additional 317,245 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $665,533.89. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,564 shares in the company, valued at $23,846,709.88. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The sale 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,250 shares of company stock worth $1,495,098. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price target on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $545.06.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.0%

Moody’s stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $487.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 510,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 996,152. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. Moody’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $455.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $466.07. The company has a market capitalization of $85.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.69% and a return on equity of 70.97%. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. The company’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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 29.53%.

Moody’s Company 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.