Bank of America Initiates Coverage on Moody’s (NYSE:MCO)

Equities researchers at Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $530.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 24.94% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MCO. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $524.86.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock traded down $14.39 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $424.20. 621,213 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 767,702. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $473.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $476.45. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.31 billion, a PE ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $988,750,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 55,808.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $373,879,000 after purchasing an additional 801,414 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 92,060.2% in the fourth 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. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 73.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares during the period. Finally, Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 510.8% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $200,058,000 after acquiring an additional 353,431 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is 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.