Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Given New $470.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered Moody’s price target from $512 to $470 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying roughly 3.84% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with MarketBeat reporting a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $552.65.
• Moody’s recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $4.68 in EPS versus $4.26 expected and $2.19 billion in revenue, up 15.1% year over year.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $512.00 to $470.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the business services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective suggests a potential upside of 3.84% from the company's previous close.

MCO has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings raised Moody's from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $505.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $610.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $552.65.

Moody's Stock Up 1.0%

MCO opened at $452.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $480.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $464.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody's has a 52 week low of $402.28 and a 52 week high of $546.88.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody's had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%.The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.56 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Analysts forecast that Moody's will post 16.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total transaction of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at $25,166,165.20. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody's

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in Moody's by 3.8% during the first quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 623 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 87.1% during the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 632 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.