Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.22 EPS

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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 Stock Performance

MCO traded up $12.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $450.01. 389,248 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 726,224. The firm has a market cap of $82.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $458.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $422.05 and its 200 day moving average is $398.63.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.