Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on MCO. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial raised Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on Moody’s and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $560.94.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $6.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $523.58. The stock had a trading volume of 590,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 610,454. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $505.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $499.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $546.88. The firm has a market cap of $93.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.92% and a return on equity of 63.58%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total value of $558,934.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at $29,255,223.90. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 1,739 shares of company stock worth $841,445 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.