Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives $465.00 Average PT from Analysts

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $477.08.

Several brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $476.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $463.00 and a 200-day moving average of $420.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $490.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. 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.