Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from $481.00 to $531.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the business services provider's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MCO. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $12.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $499.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,347,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 754,586. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $486.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $480.29. Moody's has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $89.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, analysts predict that Moody's will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.17%.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,775,000. 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.