Moody’s Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.85 (NYSE:MCO)

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the business services provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd.

Moody’s has raised its dividend by an average of 11.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Moody’s has a dividend payout ratio of 26.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Moody’s to earn $12.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.5%.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $468.86 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.19, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $478.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $437.61.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.43 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’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 value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, 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 is accessible through this link. In other Moody’s news, 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 value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.