William Blair Issues Optimistic Outlook for Moody's Earnings

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

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody's from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.36.

Moody's Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MCO traded up $1.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $485.84. 298,199 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 586,765. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $480.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $472.19. The company has a market capitalization of $88.03 billion, a PE ratio of 44.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.30. Moody's has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $503.95. 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 (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm's revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at $15,543,000. Gilbert & Cook Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at $200,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $199,000. First Affirmative Financial Network bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Baron Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.