Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $470.00 at UBS Group

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price objective upped by UBS Group from $455.00 to $470.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MCO. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $448.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $448.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $422.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $399.32. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $458.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market cap of $81.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 16,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,068,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 5,721 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,408,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conning Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 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.