Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) PT Raised to $454.00

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Oppenheimer from $424.00 to $454.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price suggests a potential upside of 6.57% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $403.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $426.01 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.79 billion, a PE ratio of 46.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $403.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $391.87. Moody’s has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $428.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 10.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 150.6% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 21.8% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 1,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 64.4% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 40,941 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,944,000 after purchasing an additional 16,040 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 9.9% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 16,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares during the period. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 15.8% during the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.