Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $460.00 to $514.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Moody's traded as high as $490.00 and last traded at $490.00, with a volume of 38599 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $487.74.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $460.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody's in the 2nd quarter valued at about $141,336,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 41,992.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $117,826,000 after purchasing an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market cap of $87.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $452.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $413.89.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody's had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 11.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

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.