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

Key Points

• Moody's Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 18 research firms, with an average target price of $543.27.
• Insider trading revealed that Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares at an average price of $511.18, reducing his ownership by 27.61%.
• Moody's reported strong quarterly earnings of $3.56 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share.

Shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $543.2667.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on shares of Moody's and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Moody's to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total transaction of $212,749.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,451,077.50. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,603,224 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Moody's during the first quarter worth about $30,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $481.36 on Wednesday. Moody's has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a PE ratio of 40.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $499.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $482.74.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

About Moody's

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.

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