Weiss Ratings Reaffirms “Buy (B-)” Rating for Moody’s (NYSE:MCO)

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO)‘s stock had its “buy (b-)” rating reissued by analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $541.21.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $489.79 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $502.11 and a 200-day moving average of $482.29. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $87.67 billion, a PE ratio of 41.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total transaction of $212,749.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares of the company’s stock, 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 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.1% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $834,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth $1,413,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 20.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $803,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 74.8% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 138,472 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,485,000 after acquiring an additional 59,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 51.0% during the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 921 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.