FY2025 Earnings Forecast for Moody’s Issued By William Blair

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) – Stock analysts at William Blair raised their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of Moody’s in a research note issued to investors on Friday, October 10th. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now anticipates that the business services provider will earn $14.10 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate 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.

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Moody’s from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $528.00 target price on shares of Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $595.00 to $597.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $542.79.

Moody’s Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $473.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The business’s 50-day moving average is $500.35 and its 200-day moving average is $482.75. Moody’s has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,603,224 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,006,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,527,360,000 after acquiring an additional 191,368 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.6% during the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 13,246,979 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,644,552,000 after purchasing an additional 83,872 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,888,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,943,418,000 after purchasing an additional 69,455 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,574,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,291,568,000 after buying an additional 35,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,311,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,185,000 after buying an additional 215,551 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.