Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $374.00 to $392.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Moody’s traded as high as $429.21 and last traded at $429.21, with a volume of 163505 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $425.99.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on MCO. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.45.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,942 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,389,000 after acquiring an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 392.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 24,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,634,000 after acquiring an additional 19,660 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $265,285,000 after acquiring an additional 14,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 898,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,769,000 after acquiring an additional 24,335 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $78.37 billion, a PE ratio of 46.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average is $406.15 and its 200 day moving average is $392.60.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

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.