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

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $406.73.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 20.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 416 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% in the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 2,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,058,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 55.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. SRN Advisors LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 4.9% during the first quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IMS Capital Management lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.7% in the first quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 4,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $425.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $77.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.51, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $428.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company’s 50 day moving average is $404.24 and its 200 day moving average is $392.13.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 10.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 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.