Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.31 EPS

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31, RTT News reports. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of MCO traded up $4.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $380.56. The stock had a trading volume of 793,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 756,106. The company has a market cap of $69.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $384.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $372.82. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $296.45 and a 1-year high of $407.62.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.50.

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.