Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Price Target Raised to $580.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• Moody's price target was raised to $580.00 by JPMorgan Chase & Co., indicating a potential upside of 22.47% from its current price.
• Multiple brokerages, including Robert W. Baird and Barclays, have recently reassessed their price targets, with the average consensus now at $543.86.
• Moody's shares are currently trading at a 52-week range of $378.71 to $531.93, highlighting its stock volatility.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $570.00 to $580.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the business services provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price suggests a potential upside of 22.47% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MCO. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their target price on Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 price target on Moody's in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $543.86.

Moody's Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $473.59 on Tuesday. Moody's has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $500.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $482.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%.The company's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,603,224 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody's by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,527,360,000 after purchasing an additional 191,368 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,644,552,000 after buying an additional 83,872 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,943,418,000 after purchasing an additional 69,455 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in Moody's by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,291,568,000 after purchasing an additional 35,123 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 10.3% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,159,185,000 after acquiring an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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