Royal Bank Of Canada Reiterates "Outperform" Rating for Moody's (NYSE:MCO)

Key Points

• Royal Bank Of Canada has reaffirmed an "outperform" rating for Moody's with a target price of $550.00, suggesting an 11.57% upside from the stock's previous close.
• Moody's reported $3.56 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with a revenue of $1.90 billion, a year-over-year increase of 4.5%.
• Currently, Moody's enjoys a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy", with various analysts setting target prices ranging from $495.00 to $565.00.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $550.00 target price on the business services provider's stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's target price suggests a potential upside of 11.57% from the stock's previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 price target on Moody's and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $542.79.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $2.87 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $492.96. 93,755 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 778,867. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody's has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The company's 50 day moving average price is $502.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $482.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.24 billion, a PE ratio of 41.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Moody's will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total transaction of $212,749.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,350 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,451,077.50. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at $705,238.38. The trade was a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody's in the second quarter worth $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in Moody's by 1,000.0% in the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody's in the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Moody's in the first quarter worth $30,000. 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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