Moody’s Co. to Post Q3 2024 Earnings of $2.46 Per Share, William Blair Forecasts (NYSE:MCO)

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) – William Blair lowered their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for Moody’s in a note issued to investors on Monday, April 15th. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now forecasts that the business services provider will earn $2.46 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $2.53. The consensus estimate for Moody’s’ current full-year earnings is $10.67 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Moody’s’ Q4 2024 earnings at $2.46 EPS.

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

MCO has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE MCO opened at $370.32 on Tuesday. 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 has a 12 month low of $296.45 and a 12 month high of $407.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $385.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $368.64. The stock has a market cap of $67.58 billion, a PE ratio of 42.42, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 277.8% in the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,544,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $488,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,463 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Moody’s by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,112,947,000 after acquiring an additional 914,530 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at $153,532,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.95%.

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.