William Blair Reiterates "Outperform" Rating for Moody's (NYSE:MCO)

William Blair restated their outperform rating on shares of Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in a research report report published on Friday,RTT News reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $4.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $518.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,015,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,294. The firm has a market cap of $93.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. Moody's has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $485.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's will post 12.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $988,750,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 74,000.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 92,060.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $290,112,000 after purchasing an additional 612,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moody's

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.