Brokerages Set Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Target Price at $483.85

by · The Markets Daily

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $487.77.

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd.

View Our Latest Stock Report on MCO

Moody’s Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $473.04 on Friday. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $473.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $431.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.38 billion, a PE ratio of 51.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Moody’s by 114.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Company Profile

(Get Free Report

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.

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