Moody's (NYSE:MCO – Get Rating) had its target price hoisted by Oppenheimer from $309.00 to $342.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider's stock. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for Moody's' Q1 2023 earnings at $2.13 EPS, Q2 2023 earnings at $2.30 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $2.45 EPS and FY2023 earnings at $9.38 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Argus decreased their price target on Moody's from $340.00 to $300.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Moody's from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com started coverage on Moody's in a report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a hold rating for the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Moody's from $289.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Moody's from $294.00 to $293.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $307.67.

Moody's Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $324.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $59.42 billion, a PE ratio of 43.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $297.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $286.92. Moody's has a 12-month low of $230.16 and a 12-month high of $354.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 24th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 23rd. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 37.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody's

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,701,509 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,330,974,000 after purchasing an additional 35,737 shares in the last quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,703,505 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,551,182,000 after acquiring an additional 43,793 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,096,678 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,386,144,000 after acquiring an additional 50,289 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,148,302 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $765,385,000 after acquiring an additional 249,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 67.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,582,885 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $702,467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,597 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.84% of the company's stock.

Moody's Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Moody's Corp. engages in the provision of credit ratings, research, tools and analysis to the global capital markets. It operates through the following segments: Moody's Investors Service (MIS) and Moody's Analytics (MA). The MIS segment is a credit rating agency, which publishes credit ratings on debt obligations and the entities, including various corporate and governmental obligations, structured finance securities and commercial paper programs.

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