Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Downgraded by StockNews.com

05 Oct 2024, 03:54 by Amy Steele · The Cerbat Gem

StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MCO. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $483.85.

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Moody’s Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $460.53 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $472.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $429.54. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $84.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares in the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after acquiring an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Company Profile

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