AMJ Financial Wealth Management Takes Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AMJ Financial Wealth Management bought a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 659 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Moody's by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $528.77.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody's Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $0.84 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $482.14. The stock had a trading volume of 437,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 785,785. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm's fifty day moving average is $490.15 and its 200 day moving average is $482.75. The stock has a market cap of $86.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.