Moody's Corporation Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.94 (NYSE:MCO)

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.94 per share by the business services provider on Friday, September 5th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th.

Moody's has a payout ratio of 24.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Moody's to earn $15.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.1%.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $5.71 on Thursday, hitting $513.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 846,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 802,677. Moody's has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $92.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $488.06 and a 200-day moving average of $475.07.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.15% and a return on equity of 60.37%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody's will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $536.93.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.

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