Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at Mizuho

Stock analysts at Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.12% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on MCO. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $437.81 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $487.28 and its 200-day moving average is $481.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.76 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. TFR Capital LLC. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $1,753,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 561.5% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 41,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,493,000 after buying an additional 34,954 shares in the last quarter. GHE LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 16,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,840,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $102,413,000. Finally, Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Windmill Hill Asset Management Ltd now owns 9,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,493,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by 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.