Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $460.00 to $514.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Moody’s traded as high as $490.00 and last traded at $490.00, with a volume of 38599 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $487.74.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $460.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.0% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates increased its stake in Moody’s by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 7,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $455.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.35 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 paid 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 0.70%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio 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.