JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $495.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $585.00 to $495.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $524.33.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $424.40 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $463.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $474.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,645,000 after buying an additional 68,627 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $988,750,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Moody’s by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $841,050,000 after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,590,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $752,980,000 after acquiring an additional 220,681 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.