Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $524.33.

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target for the company.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody's

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Moody's by 6.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moody's by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $470,712,000 after purchasing an additional 31,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $430.56 on Wednesday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $460.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $473.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody's has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

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.

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