Moody’s Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.85 (NYSE:MCO)

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the business services provider on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd.

Moody’s has increased its dividend by an average of 11.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Moody’s has a dividend payout ratio of 25.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Moody’s to earn $13.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.8%.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $474.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $358.49 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $473.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $450.02. The company has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.34, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCO. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

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.