Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is positive: Twenty brokerages give Moody’s an average “Moderate Buy” rating, with 14 buys, five holds and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $553.61, above the stock’s $477.33 opening price.
• Moody’s exceeded quarterly expectations: The company reported adjusted EPS of $4.68 versus the $4.26 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 15.1% year over year to $2.19 billion. Management issued fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $16.50–$17.00.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, equivalent to $4.12 annually and a 0.9% yield. Insiders sold $1.45 million of shares over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 92.11% of the stock.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $553.6111.

Several equities analysts have commented on MCO shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $500.00 price objective on Moody's in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $535.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $505.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Moody's from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $610.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity at Moody's

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 stock was sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 158 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,534.95. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 3,092 shares of company stock worth $1,447,682 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 87.1% in the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 1,866.7% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $477.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Moody's has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $472.14 and a 200 day moving average of $460.32. The company has a market cap of $82.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.33.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.56 EPS. 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's will post 16.89 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

About Moody's

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.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source