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

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given 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 $397.75.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $374.67 on Friday. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $296.45 and a 12-month high of $407.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $384.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $369.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s will post 10.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 38.95%.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.4% in the first quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 3,691 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 16.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $594,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 17,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,710,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Applied Capital LLC FL boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.6% in the first quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 5,984 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.