Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $531.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price objective raised by BMO Capital Markets from $481.00 to $531.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $511.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $92.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $486.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $480.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 30.17%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. 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 is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.