Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $543.07.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $487.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $87.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Moody’s has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The company’s 50-day moving average is $487.99 and its 200 day moving average is $489.65.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,984 shares of company stock worth $1,470,249. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,170,285 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,228,337,000 after acquiring an additional 163,288 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,644,552,000 after buying an additional 83,872 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after buying an additional 69,455 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,291,568,000 after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 10.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,185,000 after acquiring an additional 215,551 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Services. The Moody’s Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.