Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price boosted by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $468.00 to $481.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would suggest a potential downside of 0.74% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup began 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 on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.36.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

Moody’s stock opened at $484.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $480.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $472.10. The company has a market capitalization of $87.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $503.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 12.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

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