Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $510.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MCO. Bank of America raised their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $456.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $460.58 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $433.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $404.98. The stock has a market cap of $84.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $465.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s 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 value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Conning Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 3.0% during the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 1.8% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 2.6% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 0.7% in the second quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.