FY2025 Earnings Forecast for Moody's Issued By William Blair

Key Points

• William Blair has raised its FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimate for Moody's from $13.71 to $14.10, suggesting positive outlook for the company's performance.
• Moody's reported quarterly earnings of $3.56 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.39, with a revenue of $1.90 billion compared to forecasts of $1.82 billion.
• The firm recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.94 per share, yielding an annualized rate of 0.8% with a payout ratio of 31.95%.

Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) - Research analysts at William Blair lifted their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Moody's in a research note issued on Friday, October 10th. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now expects that the business services provider will post earnings of $14.10 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $13.71. The consensus estimate for Moody's' current full-year earnings is $13.95 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Moody's' Q4 2025 earnings at $2.94 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $15.60 EPS.

MCO has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Moody's to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on Moody's and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $520.00 target price on Moody's in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $542.79.

Moody's Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE MCO opened at $484.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $86.67 billion, a PE ratio of 41.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.41. Moody's has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm's fifty day moving average is $501.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.28 EPS. Moody's has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.500-14.000 EPS.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $512.65, for a total transaction of $212,749.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,350 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,451,077.50. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total transaction of $741,365.31. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 1,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,238.38. This trade represents a 51.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,423 shares of company stock valued at $4,812,135 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% in the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

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.

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