Brokerages Set Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Price Target at $456.00

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $456.00.

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $466.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $85.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.95, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $438.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $407.06. Moody’s has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $469.78. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the 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 owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 392.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 24,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,634,000 after purchasing an additional 19,660 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $265,285,000 after purchasing an additional 14,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 9,756.3% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.