William Blair Issues Positive Estimate for Moody’s Earnings

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) – William Blair lifted their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Moody’s in a research note issued on Tuesday, October 22nd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now anticipates that the business services provider will post earnings of $2.18 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $2.17. The consensus estimate for Moody’s’ current full-year earnings is $11.46 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Moody’s’ Q1 2025 earnings at $3.48 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.30 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.26 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $2.84 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $466.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $85.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.98, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $478.15 and a 200 day moving average of $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. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at about $312,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 70,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,660,000 after purchasing an additional 5,076 shares during the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $225,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,632,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 2.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 984 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’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 transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

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.