Moody’s Co. to Post Q1 2024 Earnings of $2.98 Per Share, William Blair Forecasts (NYSE:MCO)

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) – Research analysts at William Blair upped their Q1 2024 earnings per share estimates for Moody’s in a report released on Monday, April 15th. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now anticipates that the business services provider will earn $2.98 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $2.77. The consensus estimate for Moody’s’ current full-year earnings is $10.67 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Moody’s’ Q2 2024 earnings at $2.70 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $10.60 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $12.35 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on MCO. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $375.41 on Wednesday. Moody’s has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.00, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $385.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $368.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 4,900.0% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter worth about $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.