Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Moody’s, with 14 buy ratings, five holds and one strong-buy rating. The average 12-month price target is $553.61, above the reported share price of $493.26.
• Moody’s reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting $4.68 in EPS versus a $4.26 consensus estimate and $2.19 billion in revenue versus $2.09 billion expected. Revenue increased 15.1% year over year, and fiscal 2026 EPS guidance is $16.50–$17.00.
• CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares worth approximately $710,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, while institutional investors own a substantial 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $553.6111.

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Moody's from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $530.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $512.00 target price on Moody's in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares in the company, valued at $25,166,165.20. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 0.3% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC now owns 1,865 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 429 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 497 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $493.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $489.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $462.63. Moody's has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The firm has a market cap of $85.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.56 earnings per share. The business's quarterly 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. On average, analysts expect that Moody's will post 16.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody's's payout ratio is 26.13%.

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.

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