Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.22 EPS

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22, Briefing.com reports. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.72% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s updated its FY24 guidance to $11.00-11.40 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 11.000-11.400 EPS.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MCO stock traded up $3.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $437.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,020,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,225. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $421.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $398.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Moody’s has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $458.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.83 billion, a PE ratio of 47.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.50.

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.