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

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $550.25.

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 target price on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. This represents a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $267,000. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 44.5% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Moody’s by 18.5% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,286 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in Moody’s by 19.0% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.6% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 23,691 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,883,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $429.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.45. Moody’s has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $482.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $488.04.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.25. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.62 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.