Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Mizuho

Analysts at Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a report issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.48% from the company’s current price.

MCO has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MCO opened at $444.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $79.89 billion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average is $488.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.26. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

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

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. 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 the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co lifted its position in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,327,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.