Moody's Hikes Dividend By 21%, Sets New $1 Bln Share Buyback Program

(RTTNews) - Credit ratings agency Moody's Corp. (MCO) said Wednesday that its board of directors has increased the quarterly dividend by 21 percent and also authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program.

The New York-based company said that its board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, up 21 percent from the prior quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share. The new dividend will be payable on March 10, 2015 to stockholders of record at the close of business on February 20, 2015.

In addition, the company's board authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program. Moody's expects to commence repurchases under the new program following completion of the existing program, which had $1 billion of share repurchase authority remaining as of September 30, 2014.

Moody's plans to repurchase shares subject to available cash, market conditions and other ongoing capital allocation decisions. As a result, the company noted that its share repurchase activity may vary from quarter to quarter.

In October, Moody's reported a 17 percent increase in profit for the third quarter from last year, reflecting improved margins and double-digit revenue growth.

The company's net income for the third quarter was $215.2 million or $1.00 per share, up from $183.9 million or $0.83 per share in the prior-year quarter. Revenue for the quarter increased 16 percent to $816.1 million from $705.5 million in the same quarter last year.

MCO closed Tuesday's trading at $92.38, down $1.41 or 1.5 percent on a volume of 1.16 million shares.