Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Increased to $570.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Barclays from $500.00 to $570.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target points to a potential upside of 19.39% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on MCO. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.38.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCO traded down $1.33 on Friday, hitting $477.42. The company had a trading volume of 260,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,292. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.12, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $462.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.17. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $490.18.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Moody’s in the second quarter worth about $35,000. 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.