Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives $519.40 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $519.40.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $530.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody’s from $489.00 to $523.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Moody’s from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE MCO opened at $471.57 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $461.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $473.29. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $378.71 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 company has a market capitalization of $84.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

About Moody’s

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.