BMO Capital Markets Increases Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $481.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its target price increased by BMO Capital Markets from $468.00 to $481.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.36.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $484.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $480.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $471.73. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $503.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a PE ratio of 44.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 12.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,413. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 83.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by 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.