Moody’s Co. to Post Q3 2024 Earnings of $2.33 Per Share, William Blair Forecasts (NYSE:MCO)

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) – William Blair decreased their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Moody’s in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, July 23rd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now expects that the business services provider will earn $2.33 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.35. The consensus estimate for Moody’s’ current full-year earnings is $11.32 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Moody’s’ Q4 2024 earnings at $2.23 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.54 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.30 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.90 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $2.91 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MCO. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.50.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $436.99 on Friday. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $458.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market cap of $79.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.71, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $422.05 and a 200-day moving average of $398.63.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,613,867,000 after acquiring an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after buying an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.