Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Issues Earnings Results

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25, Zacks reports. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Moody’s updated its FY 2025 guidance to 13.250-14.000 EPS.

Moody’s Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $414.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $74.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $461.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $473.94.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Company Profile

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.