Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Given New $496.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $491.00 to $496.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,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 downside of 1.46% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on MCO. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $565.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $543.67.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock traded up $4.56 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $503.34. 94,477 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,201,197. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $452.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $466.06. Moody’s has a 52-week low of $402.28 and a 52-week high of $546.88. The company has a market cap of $87.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.08, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total transaction of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total transaction of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

About Moody’s

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.