Moody's (NYSE:MCO) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.31 EPS

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31, RTT News reports. Moody's had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Moody's's revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Moody's Trading Up 0.9 %

MCO opened at $376.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $68.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.26. Moody's has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62. The business's 50 day moving average is $384.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $372.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody's from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Moody's from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Moody's from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Moody's from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $398.50.

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.