Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $558.5625.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Moody’s from $534.00 to $507.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $620.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.15, for a total transaction of $305,560.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,527,474.30. The trade was a 0.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Caitlin John LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.8%

NYSE MCO opened at $426.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.31, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $500.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $495.66. 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 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $546.88.

About Moody’s

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.