BMO Capital Markets Downgrades Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) to Market Perform

BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $455.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $482.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $448.50.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $448.75 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $422.75 and its 200-day moving average is $399.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $458.24. The firm has a market cap of $81.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. 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.