Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.35 EPS

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35, Zacks reports. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s updated its FY 2025 guidance to 14.000-14.500 EPS.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $522.76 on Friday. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $94.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $484.38 and a 200-day moving average of $478.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $522.62.

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.