Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives $547.94 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $541.6875.

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $550.00 price target on the stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $438.12 on Wednesday. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $402.28 and a 12-month high of $546.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $77.99 billion, a PE ratio of 32.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $443.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $478.17.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.77, for a total value of $642,208.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,489 shares in the company, valued at $33,046,819.53. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 8,222 shares of company stock valued at $3,786,732 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors 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.