Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $454.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target lifted by Oppenheimer from $424.00 to $454.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $406.73.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $425.78 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $404.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $392.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $77.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.51, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $428.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its stake in Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after buying an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $692,850,000 after buying an additional 229,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $88,000. 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.