Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives $500.00 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $500.00.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $456.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $82.69 billion, a PE ratio of 41.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $476.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $440.88. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $317.54 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moody’s will post 12.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,612 shares of company stock worth $2,110,119 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conning Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 3.0% during the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 2.1% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 2.6% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.5% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,004 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,375,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.