Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $536.00 at Oppenheimer

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price objective raised by Oppenheimer from $492.00 to $536.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an outperform rating and a $521.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $483.85.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $460.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market cap of $84.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $472.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $430.12. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $5,613,867,000 after buying an additional 119,450 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Moody’s by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after buying an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $686,230,000 after buying an additional 173,900 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.