Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives $553.61 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $553.6111.

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.8%

Moody’s stock opened at $484.38 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $474.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $459.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $83.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.33. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $402.28 and a 52 week high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.56 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 16.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,092 shares of company stock valued at $1,447,682 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 806.7% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 9,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 8,220 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $1,097,101,000. LBP AM SA raised its stake in Moody’s by 5,179.4% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 38,751 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,796,000 after purchasing an additional 38,017 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 514,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $262,769,000 after buying an additional 143,515 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.