Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31, RTT News reports. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $380.56 on Friday. Moody’s has a one year low of $296.45 and a one year high of $407.62. 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 has a market cap of $69.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $383.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $373.23.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.