Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Announces Earnings Results

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 58.72%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. Moody’s updated its FY24 guidance to $11.00-11.40 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 11.000-11.400 EPS.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.9 %

Moody’s stock traded up $8.31 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $442.12. The company had a trading volume of 237,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,710. The firm has a market cap of $80.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $458.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $421.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $398.36.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.50.

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.