Moody's Corporation (MCO) Stock Price & How to Invest

Moody's is a global integrated risk-assessment company best known for credit ratings. It operates two main segments. Moody's Investors Service (MIS) rates the creditworthiness of bonds, loans, and other debt instruments issued by corporations, governments, and structured-finance vehicles, earning fees from issuers each time debt is rated. Moody's Analytics (MA) sells subscription software, data, research, and models for credit risk, economic forecasting, regulatory compliance, and increasingly ESG and supply-chain risk. Together with S&P Global, Moody's forms half of an effective duopoly in credit ratings, an industry protected by deep regulatory entrenchment, network effects, and the trust embedded in its ratings over more than a century. The ratings business is highly profitable and cyclical with debt-issuance volumes, while Moody's Analytics provides growing, recurring subscription revenue that smooths the cycle. Founded in 1909 and headquartered in New York, Moody's is a high-margin compounder tied to the global flow of capital and debt. Over the trailing twelve months to mid-2026 it generated about $8.2 billion of revenue and $2.8 billion of net income, with an operating margin near 49%.

The ratings segment is cyclical: debt issuance falls sharply when interest rates rise quickly or credit markets freeze, directly pressuring MIS revenue. Moody's also carries reputational and regulatory risk, a legacy of the 2008 financial crisis when rating agencies were criticized for structured-credit ratings; new regulation or liability rulings could weigh on the model. Competition from S&P Global, Fitch, and smaller rating providers, plus the rise of in-house and AI-driven risk tools, is a long-term consideration. The premium valuation embeds steady growth, so issuance downturns or multiple compression can hit the stock. Currency exposure and integration risk on acquisitions add further variability. Ahead of the October 21, 2026 report, RBC, Jefferies, JPMorgan and BMO all lowered price targets, and consensus for the December 2026 quarter implies EPS roughly flat to slightly down year over year, so the near-term issuance outlook is the swing factor.

21 analysts publish price targets on MCO, averaging $555.43 against a $485.07 price as of October 2026, or +14.5%. The published targets run from $470.00 to $610.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 18 buy, 6 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 7 raises and 4 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full MCO forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Moody's Corporation. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Ratings duopoly and pricing power. Moody's and S&P Global dominate credit ratings, an industry with high regulatory barriers and a century of accumulated trust. The most optimistic published target, $610.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The ratings segment is cyclical: debt issuance falls sharply when interest rates rise quickly or credit markets freeze, directly pressuring MIS revenue. The most pessimistic target, $470.00, is roughly what MCO is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on MCO, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Moody's Corporation (MCO) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Moody's Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$8.2 billion, up ~15% year over year in the latest quarter
• Operating margin: ~49%
• Net income (TTM): ~$2.8 billion
• EPS (TTM / forward): ~$15.76 / ~$18.93
• P/E (trailing / forward): ~31x / ~25x
• Dividend yield: ~0.85% ($4.12 a year), with a long record of annual increases
• Free cash flow (TTM): ~$2.6 billion
• Market cap: ~$83 billion

At about $482 a share on October 16, 2026, Moody's trades near 31x trailing and 25x forward earnings, a lower multiple than at the start of the year because earnings grew faster than the share price, which is down about 3% year to date. The valuation still embeds steady double-digit EPS growth and durable issuance volumes. Third-quarter results on October 21 are the next test.

If you want MCO exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

Other names that sit close to MCO: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get MCO exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (AKRE), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so MCO sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where MCO fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Moody's (MCO) is a wide-moat ratings-and-analytics compounder whose duopoly pricing power and capital-light economics convert revenue into cash at high rates, with subscription analytics smoothing the issuance-driven cyclicality of ratings. In a portfolio it behaves as a quality, financial-infrastructure holding sensitive to debt-issuance volumes, interest rates, and regulatory or reputational risk, often paired with S&P Global and MSCI.

Whether MCO is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is MCO a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the MCO stock forecast.

For income investors, whether MCO pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does MCO pay a dividend? And to weigh MCO against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: MCO vs SPGI and MCO vs MORN.