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

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $400.50.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 150.6% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 9.0% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 18,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,000,000 after buying an additional 1,560 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 69,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,055,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 21.8% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 1,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $419.66 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $399.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $390.88. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $428.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.63 billion, a PE ratio of 45.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s will post 10.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.