Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of MCO traded up $1.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $466.19. 807,123 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 741,609. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $467.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.13 billion, a PE ratio of 50.89, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $435.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $405.94.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its position in Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $141,336,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares in the last quarter. 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.