Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $471.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $526.00 to $471.00 in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Moody’s from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $532.00 to $539.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.33.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $490.54 on Thursday. Moody’s has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $493.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $485.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at $1,091,699.52. The trade was a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock worth $4,802,876. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Services. The Moody’s Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.