Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $550.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $510.00 to $550.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $487.77.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $475.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody’s has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The company has a market capitalization of $86.76 billion, a PE ratio of 51.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $474.18 and a 200-day moving average of $432.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was 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 directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after purchasing an additional 279,253 shares in the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Moody’s by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. 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.