Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) PT Raised to $451.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $420.00 to $451.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

MCO has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Moody’s to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Moody’s from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $465.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO opened at $475.44 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $457.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $416.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $490.18.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.35 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.