Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $501.46.

MCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

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

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 22.6% in 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 buying an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,792,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in Moody’s by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 221,745 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $105,238,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in Moody’s by 97.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,722 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $470.09 on Thursday. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $503.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $479.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $462.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.93, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

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.