Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) PT Raised to $550.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $510.00 to $550.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.17% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $487.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $469.40 on Wednesday. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $473.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $431.43. The company has a market cap of $85.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.64, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other 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 transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 20,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,199,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,867,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 200.9% during the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 4,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,867,000 after acquiring an additional 3,192 shares in the last quarter. BRX Global LP increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. BRX Global LP now owns 43,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,836,000 after acquiring an additional 11,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $527,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.