Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC Invests $234,000 in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 600 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $153,532,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. White Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $244,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 79,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,206,000 after acquiring an additional 11,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,479,000 after acquiring an additional 7,250 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on MCO shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $4.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $380.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 793,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 756,106. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.45 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $383.97 and a 200 day moving average of $373.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

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.