Stifel Nicolaus Raises Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target to $533.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target boosted by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $459.00 to $533.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.96% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup began 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 on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $522.62.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $522.76 on Friday. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $484.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $478.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $94.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $988,750,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 92,060.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $290,112,000 after purchasing an additional 612,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.