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

Bank of America began coverage on shares of Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $530.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.94% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $524.86.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock traded down $14.39 during trading on Thursday, reaching $424.20. 621,213 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 767,702. The company has a market capitalization of $76.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $473.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $476.45.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $30,601,631.48. The trade was 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 sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 101.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by 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.