Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Given New $535.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price upped by Evercore ISI from $531.00 to $535.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

MCO has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.27.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $481.36 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $499.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $482.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.41. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,008 shares of company stock worth $4,603,224. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MCO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $803,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 49.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,493,000 after purchasing an additional 7,492 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in Moody’s by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $619,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.