Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $496.05 and last traded at $494.06, with a volume of 35328 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $494.03.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $90.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $474.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.33.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,344,802,000 after buying an additional 63,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.