Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives $543.40 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six investment 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 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $543.40.

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $597.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, October 9th.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $498.45 on Monday. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.07, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $491.47 and its 200 day moving average is $495.26.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,154 shares of company stock valued at $1,041,098. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 10,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,351,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $572,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.0% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,415 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 14.7% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 41,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,924,000 after purchasing an additional 5,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.5% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,525,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.