Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $543.0667.

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,569 shares of company stock worth $1,253,848. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Moody’s by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,415 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in Moody’s by 14.7% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 41,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,924,000 after buying an additional 5,362 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in Moody’s by 12.5% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,525,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $10,272,000. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its position in Moody’s by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 49,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $23,385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $491.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.73 billion, a PE ratio of 39.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $482.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $492.22.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly 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. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

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.