AMJ Financial Wealth Management Purchases New Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AMJ Financial Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 659 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $501.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $490.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $482.65. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

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.