Oppenheimer Raises Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $545.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $543.00 to $545.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 13.74% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James lowered Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.14.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $479.15 on Friday. Moody’s has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $503.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $479.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $467.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,243 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,326. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after buying an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.