Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $521.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on MCO. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $480.46.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $469.88 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $472.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $428.74. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The company has a market capitalization of $85.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.6% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the second quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% in the second quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 7,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.