Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $483.85.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $460.53 on Tuesday. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $472.99 and a 200-day moving average of $429.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market cap of $84.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.28, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 392.6% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 24,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,634,000 after buying an additional 19,660 shares during the last quarter. Motco boosted its position in Moody’s by 9,756.3% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $2,967,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 52.2% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $2,893,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.