StockNews.com Downgrades Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) to Hold

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $477.08.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $474.59 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $471.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $427.84. 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 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter worth $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.