Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

MCO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody's from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Moody's to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody's from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $470.38.

Moody's Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MCO traded down $1.79 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $476.96. 740,717 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 730,018. Moody's has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $490.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company's fifty day moving average price is $463.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $419.85. The company has a market capitalization of $86.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody's

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Moody's by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Moody's by 133.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the second quarter worth about $141,336,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

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.

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