Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Increases Dividend to $0.94 Per Share

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.94 per share by the business services provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85.

Moody’s has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 16 years. Moody’s has a dividend payout ratio of 23.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Moody’s to earn $15.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.1%.

Moody’s Stock Down 2.3 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $499.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $89.93 billion, a PE ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company’s 50 day moving average is $487.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $480.92.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

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.