Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

28 Oct 2025, 02:44 by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat Gem

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

MCO has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.33.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Moody’s

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $495.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.81, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $493.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $486.09.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The business’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.09, for a total value of $199,652.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,385,939.38. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,365 shares of company stock valued at $1,712,505. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after buying an additional 191,368 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,644,552,000 after buying an additional 83,872 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the second 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 period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,291,568,000 after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 215,551 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Company Profile

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