Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $493.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $88.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $488.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $481.88.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd grew its position in Moody’s by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd now owns 9,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,493,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 745 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 693 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.