Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Lowered to $521.00 at Mizuho

Key Points

• Mizuho cut its price target on Moody's from $524 to $521 and kept a "neutral" rating, which the firm says implies roughly an 11.6% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $544.29, though individual targets vary widely (about $489 to $610), showing mixed outlooks among brokers.
• Moody's beat quarterly EPS estimates ($4.33 vs. $4.22) and set FY2026 guidance of EPS 16.40–17.00 (street expects ~16.65), while insiders have been net sellers (8,222 shares sold in the last 90 days).

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at Mizuho from $524.00 to $521.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the business services provider's stock. Mizuho's price objective points to a potential upside of 11.60% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on MCO. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $610.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $489.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on Moody's from $580.00 to $550.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Moody's from $560.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Moody's from $526.00 to $489.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $544.29.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of Moody's stock opened at $466.83 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $447.01 and its 200 day moving average is $476.42. Moody's has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market cap of $83.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.22 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 70.97% and a net margin of 31.69%.Moody's's revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.83 earnings per share. Moody's has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total transaction of $171,266.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,123,049.89. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 5,213 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.71, for a total value of $2,380,829.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,789 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,613,594.19. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,222 shares of company stock worth $3,786,732. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,272,967 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,802,195,000 after buying an additional 102,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,965,480 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,019,551,000 after buying an additional 42,966 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody's by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,375,768 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,213,661,000 after acquiring an additional 111,725 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Moody's by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,211,023,000 after acquiring an additional 62,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $1,097,101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

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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