Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $506.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $480.38 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $479.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $464.51. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $503.95. The company has a market cap of $87.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after acquiring an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 valued at $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.