Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $553.61 According to Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $555.12.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody’s from $489.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 price target on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 923 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total transaction of $419,965.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,370,620. The trade was a 1.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.3% in the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. REAP Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 10,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,726,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $441.40 on Wednesday. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The firm has a market cap of $76.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $481.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $464.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.56 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 26.13%.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, and analytical tools. Through Moody’s Ratings, the company evaluates the creditworthiness of companies, governments, financial institutions, and structured finance securities, offering opinions and research used by investors, issuers, and other market participants.

Through Moody’s Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, risk assessment tools, data, and software. Its products support credit and market risk management, compliance, portfolio analysis, lending, insurance, and corporate planning.

Moody’s traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody published an analysis of railroad securities.