Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $414.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price boosted by Robert W. Baird from $405.00 to $414.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $398.50.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MCO stock traded up $5.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $385.70. 436,415 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 732,554. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $383.97 and a 200 day moving average of $374.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $407.62. The firm has a market cap of $70.43 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. Analysts expect that Moody’s will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,418,296,000 after acquiring an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,692,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,058,198,000 after purchasing an additional 126,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,502,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.