Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE MCO opened at $501.77 on Tuesday. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $90.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $487.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $481.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.