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

Shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $553.6111.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $610.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $477.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.30, a P/E/G 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $475.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.80.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue 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, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 approximately $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,447,682. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 87.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.