Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives $553.61 Average PT from Brokerages

by · The Cerbat Gem

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $553.6111.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MCO

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 transaction 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. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 87.1% in the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1,866.7% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $493.26 on Friday. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $490.77 and its 200 day moving average is $463.38. The company has a market cap of $85.43 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.56 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 26.13%.

About Moody’s

(Get Free Report)

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.

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