Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $500.00.

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $499.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $90.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.66, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $358.68 and a 1 year high of $503.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $474.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.73.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moody’s will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 98.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after acquiring an additional 3,909 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after acquiring an additional 12,588 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter worth about $141,336,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,792,000. 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.