StockNews.com Upgrades Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) to “Buy”

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $460.46.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $484.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Moody’s has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $490.18. The stock has a market cap of $88.44 billion, a PE ratio of 52.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $415.16.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Moody’s will post 11.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’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 directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were 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 approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $227,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 533.5% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,403 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,349,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 1,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,738,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares in the last quarter. 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.