Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives $550.25 Average PT from Analysts

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $550.25.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $550.00 target price on the stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.5%

MCO stock opened at $438.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.08 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $476.63 and a 200-day moving average of $486.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Moody’s has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $546.88.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $34,613,594.19. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,755 shares of company stock valued at $3,144,524. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,802,195,000 after buying an additional 102,682 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,644,552,000 after buying an additional 83,872 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,019,551,000 after buying an additional 42,966 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,375,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,213,661,000 after acquiring an additional 111,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Moody’s by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,211,023,000 after acquiring an additional 62,798 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.