Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for Moody’s Q4 Earnings

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) – Analysts at William Blair raised their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Moody’s in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, October 22nd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now forecasts that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $2.18 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate 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 analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James lowered Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $462.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $478.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $437.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market cap of $84.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.48, a PEG 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 (NYSE:MCO) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 83.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% 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.