Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives $456.00 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $456.00.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their price target on Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.0 %

Moody’s stock opened at $480.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $443.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $409.03. The company has a market capitalization of $87.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.43, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $480.71.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its stake in Moody’s by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $141,336,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after purchasing an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.