Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Stock Price

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) had its target price cut by Barclays from $570.00 to $520.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the business services provider's stock.

MCO has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Mizuho began coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $523.43.

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Moody's Trading Up 6.2 %

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $24.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $421.29. The stock had a trading volume of 887,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,163. The firm has a market cap of $75.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $476.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $476.98. Moody's has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93.

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. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody's will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody's

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.