BMO Capital Markets Downgrades Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) to Market Perform

BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $455.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $482.00.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Four 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, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $448.50.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $448.75 on Wednesday. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $81.94 billion, a PE ratio of 48.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $422.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $399.32.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moody’s

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.