William Blair Has Bullish Forecast for Moody’s Q4 Earnings

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) – William Blair increased their Q4 2025 earnings per share estimates for Moody’s in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, October 22nd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now anticipates that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $3.32 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $2.94. The consensus estimate for Moody’s’ current full-year earnings is $13.95 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Moody’s’ Q1 2026 earnings at $4.11 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $4.05 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $4.27 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $3.71 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Moody’s from $580.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Moody’s from $526.00 to $471.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Raymond James Financial upgraded Moody’s from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Moody’s from $531.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $543.07.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.8%

Moody’s stock opened at $491.09 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $492.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $486.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Moody’s has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $87.61 billion, a PE ratio of 39.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.41.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Moody’s has set its FY 2025 guidance at 14.500-14.750 EPS.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.09, for a total transaction of $199,652.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,385,939.38. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,245 shares of company stock worth $628,804 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moody’s

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 7.8% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,058,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. YCG LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 3.8% in the third quarter. YCG LLC now owns 184,431 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,878,000 after purchasing an additional 6,768 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY grew its holdings in Moody’s by 92.7% in the third quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 921 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 2.2% in the third quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 7,209 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,436,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in Moody’s by 219.0% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,202 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,385,000 after purchasing an additional 6,317 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.