Morgan Stanley Increases Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $462.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $451.00 to $462.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $487.77.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.2 %

Moody’s stock opened at $475.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $474.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $432.60. The firm has a market cap of $86.76 billion, a PE ratio of 51.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Ethic Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 20,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,199,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $60,867,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 200.9% during the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 4,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,867,000 after purchasing an additional 3,192 shares in the last quarter. BRX Global LP boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 37.7% in the fourth quarter. BRX Global LP now owns 43,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,836,000 after purchasing an additional 11,809 shares during the period. Finally, Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $527,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.