Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $397.75.

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total value of $958,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,099 shares in the company, valued at $20,368,273.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4,900.0% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $377.16 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $386.70 and a 200-day moving average of $367.13. The firm has a market cap of $68.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $296.45 and a 1-year high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s will post 10.67 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.85 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 38.95%.

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.