Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Invests $225,000 in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 576 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4,900.0% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth $31,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 143.8% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.2 %

MCO stock opened at $374.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $384.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $368.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 38.95%.

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.