Moody’s Corporation (MCO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.03 on March 13th

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of 1.03 per share by the business services provider on Friday, March 13th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This is a 9.6% increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94.

Moody’s has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Moody’s has a dividend payout ratio of 26.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Moody’s to earn $15.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.4%.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock traded down $2.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $477.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,788,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,843,135. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a 50 day moving average of $493.68 and a 200 day moving average of $492.12. Moody’s has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $546.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 66.01%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.62 EPS. Moody’s has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.400-17.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Moody’s from $574.00 to $540.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $600.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.25.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.