Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32, RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. Moody’s updated its FY 2024 guidance to 11.900-12.100 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $11.90-12.10 EPS.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $466.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 792,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,638. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Moody’s has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $495.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $478.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $437.61. The stock has a market cap of $85.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MCO. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.