Oppenheimer Raises Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $424.00

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) had its price target upped by Oppenheimer from $411.00 to $424.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider's stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody's from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and lifted their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $397.75.

Moody's Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $2.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $391.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,178,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,600. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $71.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.27. Moody's has a 12 month low of $290.98 and a 12 month high of $407.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $387.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $364.04.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody's had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody's will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody's's payout ratio is 38.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total value of $958,945.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,368,273.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody's

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody's by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,164,108 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,531,934,000 after acquiring an additional 189,676 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Moody's by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,659,254 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,315,556,000 after buying an additional 148,804 shares in the last quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,712 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,909,643,000 after purchasing an additional 38,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Moody's by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares in the last quarter. 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.