Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) PT Raised to $536.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Oppenheimer from $492.00 to $536.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.07% from the company’s previous close.

MCO has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $483.85.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE MCO opened at $469.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.30, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s fifty day moving average is $472.14 and its 200-day moving average is $428.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Moody’s has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in Moody’s by 41,992.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after buying an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after acquiring an additional 225,846 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.