StockNews.com Downgrades Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday.

MCO has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $461.97 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $489.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $482.72. The stock has a market cap of $83.15 billion, a PE ratio of 40.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is 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.