Wall Street Zen Downgrades Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) to Hold

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on MCO. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $487.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.21, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $487.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $489.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,984 shares of company stock valued at $1,470,249. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $987,524,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth $328,595,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth $135,968,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $712,777,000 after buying an additional 265,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,185,000 after buying an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Services. The Moody’s Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.