Moody’s’ (MCO) Outperform Rating Reiterated at William Blair

William Blair reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a report released on Friday morning,RTT News reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $522.62.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

MCO stock opened at $522.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $484.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $478.79. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $94.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its position in Moody’s by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in Moody’s by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 22 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.