Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Now Covered by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a research note published on Thursday. The firm issued a buy rating and a $530.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $524.86.

Moody’s Trading Down 3.6 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $422.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $76.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $472.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $476.05.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Moody’s by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,981,000 after buying an additional 4,544 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in Moody’s by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Moody’s by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.