J2 Capital Management Inc Makes New $254,000 Investment in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 537 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth about $6,775,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 567.2% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $38,338,000 after buying an additional 68,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody's from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Moody's from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $506.14.

Moody's Stock Down 0.7 %

Moody's stock traded down $3.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $475.74. 768,378 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 466,859. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $503.95. The firm has a market cap of $86.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company's 50-day moving average is $480.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $471.06.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's 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.