Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) to Post Q2 2024 Earnings of $2.74 Per Share, William Blair Forecasts

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) – Investment analysts at William Blair boosted their Q2 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Moody’s in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, May 2nd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now expects that the business services provider will post earnings of $2.74 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.70. The consensus estimate for Moody’s’ current full-year earnings is $10.78 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Moody’s’ Q3 2024 earnings at $2.34 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $2.25 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $10.71 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.54 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.14 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.84 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $2.82 EPS.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $387.89 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $384.13 and a 200 day moving average of $374.55. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $407.62.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its position in Moody’s by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at $153,532,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $477,728,000 after purchasing an additional 429,473 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $692,850,000 after buying an additional 229,831 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% 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.