Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research 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 target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $558.5625.

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $603.00 to $532.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $426.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $76.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.44. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $546.88. 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 current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 592 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Caitlin John LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.