William Blair Issues Positive Estimate for Moody’s Earnings

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) – Research analysts at William Blair boosted their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Moody’s in a research note issued on Tuesday, January 21st. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now anticipates that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $2.54 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.18. The consensus estimate for Moody’s’ current full-year earnings is $12.39 per share.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MCO. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.36.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $484.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a PE ratio of 44.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $480.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $472.19. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $503.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 83.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,524 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,413 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% 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.