William Blair Issues Positive Estimate for Moody’s Earnings

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

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on MCO. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $507.36.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $484.60 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $480.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $472.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $503.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.26, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.30.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 53,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,231,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 112.3% in the 4th quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 1,397 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $661,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 66.8% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 303,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $143,826,000 after acquiring an additional 121,632 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $265,000. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 1,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $521,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was 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 worth $1,178,413 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.