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

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by equities researchers at Barclays from $500.00 to $570.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the business services provider's stock. Barclays's price target points to a potential upside of 19.51% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody's from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Moody's from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Moody's from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody's from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $470.38.

Moody's Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MCO stock traded down $1.79 on Friday, reaching $476.96. 740,717 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 730,018. Moody's has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $490.18. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a PE ratio of 52.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $462.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $419.17.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. Moody's's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody's will post 11.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody's

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Moody's by 114.3% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in Moody's in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.