Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.32 EPS

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32, RTT News reports. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.43 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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 Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $466.94 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $478.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $437.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.26 billion, a PE ratio of 50.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

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.