Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings 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 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $541.8333.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $565.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Mizuho cut their price objective on Moody’s from $524.00 to $521.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Moody’s from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.39, for a total value of $684,194.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.67, for a total value of $71,679.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,534.95. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 4,717 shares of company stock valued at $2,137,306 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,129,000 after buying an additional 3,773 shares in the last quarter. Militia Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $643,000. Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.5% in the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 5,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,258,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.8% in the first quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 6,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,988,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DV Trading LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 250.0% in the first quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $451.20 on Monday. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $450.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $468.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.82 billion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.35.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.22 by $0.11. Moody’s had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s will post 16.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.53%.

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.