Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $580.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $570.00 to $580.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays upped their target price on Moody’s from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $543.27.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:MCO opened at $481.36 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $499.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.74. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $86.16 billion, a PE ratio of 40.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total value of $212,749.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,603,224. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1,000.0% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $30,000. 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.