Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $456.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at about $53,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.3% in the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,492,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 10.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 4,506 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,897,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in Moody’s by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 547 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $473.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $86.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $474.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $441.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $408.06.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

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.