Morgan Stanley Cuts Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $470.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $512.00 to $470.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 3.84% from the stock’s current price.

MCO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings raised Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $505.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 target price on Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $552.65.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of MCO opened at $452.64 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $78.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $480.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $464.90. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.56 earnings per share. The business’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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,810,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its stake in Moody’s by 0.3% in the first quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 10,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,726,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 4.6% in the first quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 632 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, and analytical tools. Through Moody’s Ratings, the company evaluates the creditworthiness of companies, governments, financial institutions, and structured finance securities, offering opinions and research used by investors, issuers, and other market participants.

Through Moody’s Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, risk assessment tools, data, and software. Its products support credit and market risk management, compliance, portfolio analysis, lending, insurance, and corporate planning.

Moody’s traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody published an analysis of railroad securities.