Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

10 Sep 2026, 08:58 by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets Daily

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $553.6111.

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $610.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $590.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $505.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on MCO

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.30, for a total value of $710,468.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,166,165.20. This trade represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Moody’s by 41,935.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 100,442,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $45,492,307,000 after purchasing an additional 100,203,310 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 42,966 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,370,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,211,023,000 after buying an additional 62,798 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,349,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,024,874,000 after buying an additional 72,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $1,097,101,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $475.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $82.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $491.47 and its 200-day moving average is $463.78.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $4.68 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.500-17.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 16.98 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.13%.

About Moody’s

(Get Free Report)

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 governments, companies, financial institutions and debt securities, helping investors and other market participants assess credit risk. Its ratings and related research cover a broad range of fixed-income markets and structured finance products.