Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Lowered to $520.00 at Barclays

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target cut by Barclays from $570.00 to $520.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 29.44% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on MCO. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $523.43.

Moody’s Trading Down 9.2 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $401.74 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $482.15 and a 200 day moving average of $478.93. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $72.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Moody’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,645,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $988,750,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $841,050,000 after buying an additional 302,453 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.