Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $454.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $443.00 to $454.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MCO. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $448.50.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $448.75 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $422.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $399.32. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $458.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market cap of $81.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.99, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Kintegral Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 16,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,068,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 24.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 5,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Conning Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.