Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on MCO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $461.97 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $489.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.72.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,775,000. 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.