Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Receives $400.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $400.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Moody's from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody's

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 16.2% in the fourth 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. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the third quarter worth $153,532,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $477,728,000 after buying an additional 429,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 39.7% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded up $1.98 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $395.95. 550,844 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 735,027. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $384.45 and a 200-day moving average of $375.15. Moody's has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $407.62. The stock has a market cap of $72.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.23, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moody's will post 10.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.12%.

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.