Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $544.2941.

Several analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Mizuho cut their target price on Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of 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, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 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 $2,380,829.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,613,594.19. The trade was a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 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 $171,266.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,123,049.89. This trade represents a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,680 shares of company stock valued at $3,952,188 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1,866.7% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $457.12 on Friday. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $402.28 and a 52 week high of $546.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock has a market cap of $79.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $448.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $475.61.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 16.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.53%.

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.