Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Cut to $575.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada from $610.00 to $575.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 19.37% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $515.00 to $490.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $523.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Moody’s to a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $551.26.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $2.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $481.69. The company had a trading volume of 232,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,050,383. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $83.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $477.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $466.52. Moody’s has a one year low of $402.28 and a one year high of $546.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.42. Moody’s had a return on equity of 80.35% and a net margin of 34.25%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.56 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 16.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.00, for a total value of $419,965.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,370,620. This trade represents a 1.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $885,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 3,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd now owns 19,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,980,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. William Allan Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 3,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,598,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reliant Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $347,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, and analytical tools. Through Moody’s Ratings, the company evaluates the creditworthiness of companies, governments, financial institutions, and structured finance securities, offering opinions and research used by investors, issuers, and other market participants.

Through Moody’s Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, risk assessment tools, data, and software. Its products support credit and market risk management, compliance, portfolio analysis, lending, insurance, and corporate planning.

Moody’s traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody published an analysis of railroad securities.