Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Increased to $550.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) had its price target boosted by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $510.00 to $550.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.68% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $487.77.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $0.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $471.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 246,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,844. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $473.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $431.14. The company has a market capitalization of $86.07 billion, a PE ratio of 51.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.