Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $459.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $454.00 to $459.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.2 %

MCO opened at $468.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $478.15 and its 200-day moving average is $437.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,613,867,000 after buying an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 11.1% during the first quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,230,000 after buying an additional 173,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.