Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Plans $0.85 Quarterly Dividend

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the business services provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd.

Moody’s has raised its dividend by an average of 11.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Moody’s has a payout ratio of 26.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Moody’s to earn $12.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.5%.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded up $1.13 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $468.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 695,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,383. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $478.09 and a 200-day moving average of $437.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This 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 have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $500.00.

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.