Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives $527.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $527.00.

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $465.82 on Friday. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $83.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $485.36 and a 200 day moving average of $479.92.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.