Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives $397.75 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $397.75.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $374.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $384.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $369.13. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 10.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,164,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,531,934,000 after buying an additional 189,676 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares during the last quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,909,643,000 after buying an additional 38,615 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,359,927,000 after buying an additional 205,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,112,947,000 after buying an additional 914,530 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.