Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided EPS guidance of 11.900-12.100 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 11.680. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Moody’s also updated its FY24 guidance to $11.90-12.10 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $466.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market cap of $85.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.98, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $495.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $478.15 and a 200-day moving average of $437.61.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Insiders own 0.07% 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.