Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $553.61 According to Analysts

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $555.12.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $452.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $480.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $464.90. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $402.28 and a twelve month high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.56 earnings per share. Moody’s’s 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $419,965.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,370,620. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Moody’s by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,349,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,024,874,000 after purchasing an additional 72,043 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.4% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,420,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $643,191,000 after buying an additional 33,024 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 72.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,081,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,963,000 after buying an additional 454,684 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 20.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,011,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $458,126,000 after acquiring an additional 168,528 shares during the period. Finally, Egerton Capital UK LLP bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $395,096,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, and analytical tools. Through Moody’s Ratings, the company evaluates the creditworthiness of companies, governments, financial institutions, and structured finance securities, offering opinions and research used by investors, issuers, and other market participants.

Through Moody’s Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, risk assessment tools, data, and software. Its products support credit and market risk management, compliance, portfolio analysis, lending, insurance, and corporate planning.

Moody’s traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody published an analysis of railroad securities.