Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Moody’s (NYSE:MCO)

Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 19.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $491.00 to $496.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $535.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Moody’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $548.47.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $511.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.34. 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 fifty day moving average price of $460.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $465.69. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moody’s will post 16.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other 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 directly owned 75,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,067,397.71. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,495,098. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 1,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.