Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Sets New 12-Month High at $491.35

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $491.35 and last traded at $488.18, with a volume of 22573 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $484.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $477.08.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $90.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $467.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $423.57.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 7,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.