Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Cut to $560.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo cut its price target on Moody's to $560 (from $660) while maintaining an "overweight" rating, and although several other brokers have trimmed targets, the MarketBeat consensus is still a "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $541.69.
• Moody's beat quarterly expectations, reporting $3.64 EPS vs. $3.39 expected and $1.89B revenue vs. $1.87B, and set FY 2026 guidance of $16.40–$17.00 EPS.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $660.00 to $560.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the business services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price would suggest a potential upside of 29.85% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $531.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $541.69.

Moody's Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:MCO opened at $431.26 on Monday. Moody's has a fifty-two week low of $402.28 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.77 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.45. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $445.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $478.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.87 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 66.01% and a net margin of 31.86%.Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.62 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody's will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.77, for a total transaction of $642,208.59. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,046,819.53. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 8,222 shares of company stock worth $3,786,732 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody's

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Moody's in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Moody's in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in Moody's in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.