Analysts Set Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Price Target at $500.00

Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $500.00.

MCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody's from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $654,296. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,612 shares of company stock valued at $2,110,119 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Motco lifted its position in Moody's by 9,756.3% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 52.2% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $14,844,000 after buying an additional 12,099 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 8.9% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 38,650 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,191,000 after acquiring an additional 3,169 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in Moody's by 68.1% during the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 52,600 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $20,673,000 after acquiring an additional 21,300 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,613,867,000 after purchasing an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $1.19 on Wednesday, reaching $459.31. 216,838 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 738,096. Moody's has a 1-year low of $303.98 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market cap of $83.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $477.63 and a 200-day moving average of $440.08.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Moody's will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's dividend payout ratio 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.