Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.35 EPS

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35, Zacks reports. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s updated its FY 2025 guidance to 14.000-14.500 EPS.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $9.25 during trading on Thursday, hitting $514.69. 617,267 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 695,514. The stock has a market cap of $93.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.00, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $525.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $483.65 and its 200-day moving average is $477.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $540,051. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.36.

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.