Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Reaches New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $430.00 to $510.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Moody’s traded as high as $455.61 and last traded at $453.38, with a volume of 96620 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $452.36.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $427.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,389,000 after acquiring an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 392.6% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 24,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,634,000 after acquiring an additional 19,660 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $265,285,000 after acquiring an additional 14,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 898,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $350,769,000 after acquiring an additional 24,335 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $416.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $395.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $82.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.12%.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.