Oppenheimer Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Stock

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by Oppenheimer from $552.00 to $563.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the business services provider's stock. Oppenheimer's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.18% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $536.93.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $7.76 on Thursday, reaching $515.64. 306,106 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 798,737. Moody's has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company's 50 day moving average is $488.06 and its 200-day moving average is $475.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.76 billion, a PE ratio of 44.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.15% and a return on equity of 60.37%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody's will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,899,490,000 after purchasing an additional 119,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,738,645,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 10.3% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,159,185,000 after purchasing an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $988,750,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $841,050,000 after purchasing an additional 302,453 shares in the last quarter. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.