Analysts Set Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Price Target at $538.80

Key Points

• Moody's Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a majority giving buy recommendations and a 12-month price target averaging $538.80.
• CEO Robert Fauber and insider Stephen T. Tulenko recently sold shares of Moody's, reflecting a trend of insider selling, with insiders offloading a total of 8,593 shares worth nearly $4.4 million in the past quarter.
• Moody's reported a 4.5% year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue, with earnings of $3.56 per share, surpassing expectations and indicating strong financial performance.

Shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $538.80.

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $14.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $501.30. 1,115,734 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 774,720. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $491.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $476.98. Moody's has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $89.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Moody's will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total value of $455,891.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. The trade was a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 55,808.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $373,879,000 after acquiring an additional 801,414 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $328,595,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Moody's by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $841,050,000 after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Moody's by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $712,777,000 after acquiring an additional 265,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 142.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,040 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,083,000 after acquiring an additional 238,569 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.