Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Shareholders Set to Receive $1.03 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Moody’s declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, payable December 11 to shareholders of record on November 20. The annualized dividend is $4.12, yielding approximately 0.8%.
• The company has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years, with a current payout ratio of 26.8%; analysts expect future earnings to provide continued coverage.
• Moody’s reported quarterly EPS of $4.14 and revenue of $2.02 billion, both below analyst expectations. Despite the miss, analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $551.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.03 per share by the business services provider on Friday, December 11th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 20th.

Moody's has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Moody's has a dividend payout ratio of 26.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Moody's to earn $18.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.9%.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock traded up $8.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $489.15. 204,352 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,054,803. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $478.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.75. Moody's has a 12 month low of $402.28 and a 12 month high of $546.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.35.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $4.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.25 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 34.25% and a return on equity of 80.35%. Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.92 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's will post 16.92 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Moody's from $550.00 to $537.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $600.00 price objective (up from $565.00) on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Moody's to a "neutral" rating and set a $560.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $551.00.

Moody's Company Profile

Moody's Corporation NYSE: MCO is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data, analytics and risk-management solutions. Through Moody's Investors Service, the company assigns credit ratings and publishes research on corporate, government and structured-finance debt issuers, helping investors and other market participants evaluate credit risk.

Through Moody's Analytics, the company provides financial intelligence, economic research, data, software and advisory services. Its offerings support credit analysis, lending, portfolio management, enterprise risk management, compliance and related functions across financial institutions, corporations, governments and other organizations.

Moody's traces its origins to 1909, when John Moody established the company that introduced published credit ratings for bonds.

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