Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $523.00 at Oppenheimer

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Oppenheimer from $489.00 to $523.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $519.40.

Moody's Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $3.79 during trading on Thursday, hitting $491.33. The company had a trading volume of 35,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 761,618. The stock has a market cap of $88.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39. Moody's has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $455.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $473.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody's will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trust Point Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 563 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 33,740 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,972,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 119.3% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 193 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,454 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,831,000 after purchasing an additional 3,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,312 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,042,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.