Analysts’ Recent Ratings Updates for Moody’s (MCO)

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) recently:

• 7/24/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from $450.00 to $500.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 7/24/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $450.00 to $475.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 7/24/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. from $454.00 to $492.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 7/24/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at UBS Group AG from $455.00 to $470.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 7/24/2024 – Moody’s was downgraded by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating. They now have a $455.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $482.00.
• 7/24/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $443.00 to $454.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 7/16/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at Bank of America Co. from $430.00 to $510.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 7/9/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at UBS Group AG from $395.00 to $455.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 7/5/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $374.00 to $392.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 7/1/2024 – Moody’s had its price target raised by analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. from $424.00 to $454.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $449.99. The stock had a trading volume of 209,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 726,077. The firm has a market cap of $81.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $458.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $422.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $399.48.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tobam increased its stake in Moody’s by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tobam now owns 173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its stake in Moody’s by 43.8% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 955 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 16,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,068,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 24.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 5,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.