Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

MCO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE MCO traded down $3.22 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $370.32. 900,044 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 721,457. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $385.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $368.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $296.45 and a 12-month high of $407.62. The firm has a market cap of $67.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.42, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s will post 10.67 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4,900.0% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.