MCO Historical PE Ratio Notes

— Moody’s Corporation (MCO) is a leading provider of credit ratings, research, & risk analysis, most notably through its Moody’s Investors Service segment that rates debt securities issued by companies, governments, & structured finance vehicles. In addition, its Moody’s Analytics business provides software, data, & advisory services for risk management and regulatory compliance. MCO plays a crucial role in global financial markets by offering investors & institutions insight into credit quality and risk. The historical price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of Moody’s often reflects the market’s confidence in its steady revenue streams, high margins, & competitive moat. During strong credit cycles, demand for ratings surges, supporting earnings and, potentially, higher PE ratios. However, during financial downturns or regulatory scrutiny, growth may slow and compress the PE multiple. When examining the historical PE ratios of MCO, investors should look for patterns around economic cycles, regulatory changes, & periods of innovation within financial markets that influence both earnings power and investor sentiment. Understanding how Moody’s unique business model and market dominance drive investor expectations is essential to making sense of its historical valuation trends.

On this page we presented the Moody's Historical PE Ratio information for Moody's' stock. The average MCO historical PE based on using the annualized quarterly earnings result at each measurement period (for the "E" in the PE calculation; and the closing price on earnings date as the "P") is 26.6. Meanwhile, using the trailing twelve month (TTM) quarterly earnings result as our method of calculation the "E" value at each measurement period, the average MCO historical PE based on this TTM earnings result method is 27.7.

Let's now compare this MCO historical PE result, against the recent PE: when this page was posted on 5/4/2026, the most recent closing price for MCO had been 449.56, and the most recent quarterly earnings result, annualized, was 17.32. Meanwhile, the most recent TTM earnings summed to 15.45. From these numbers, we calculate the recent MCO PE on 5/4/2026 based on annualized quarterly EPS was 26.0. Based on MCO's history, that recent PE is low relative to the historical average, with the recent PE 2.3% lower than the historical average PE across our data set for Moody's. Looking at the recent MCO PE on 5/4/2026 based on TTM EPS, we calculate the ratio at 29.1. Based on MCO's history, that recent PE is elevated relative to the historical average, with the recent PE 5.1% higher than the historical average PE across our Moody's data set with TTM EPS used in the calculation at each period.

Another interesting MCO historical PE Ratio calculation we look at is to take the median earnings per share of the last four quarters for MCO, and then annualize the resulting value... with that annualized number then being used in the PE calculation. To walk through this math for MCO, we start with the past four EPS numbers and we first sort them from lowest to highest: 3.56, 3.64, 3.92, and 4.33. We then toss out the highest and lowest result, and then take the average of those two middle numbers — 3.64 and 3.92 — which gives us the median of 3.78. Basically the way to think about this 3.78 number is this: for the trailing four earnings reports, 3.78 marks the "middle ground" number where MCO has reported a value higher than 3.78 half the time, and has reported a value lower than 3.78 half the time. Annualizing that median value then gets us to 15.12/share, which we use as the denominator in our next PE calculation. With 449.56 as the numerator (as of 5/4/2026), the calculation is then 449.56 / 15.12 = 29.7 as the MCO PE ratio as of 5/4/2026, based on that annualized median value we calculated.

For self directed investors doing their due diligence on MCO or any other given stock, valuation analysis for MCO can greatly benefit from studying the past earnings and resulting PE calculations. This exercise can help inform an analysis as to whether the past earnings trajectory and current versus historical PE ratios justify the current stock value.

That's why we bring you HistoricalPERatio.com to make it easy for investors to investigate Moody's PE history or the past PE information for any stock in our coverage universe. And in your continued research we hope you will be sure to check out the further links included for earnings surprises history (beat/miss data) as well as next earnings dates for MCO. Thanks for visiting, and the next time you need to research MCO Historical PE Ratio or the ratio for another stock, we hope you'll think of our site, as your go-to historical PE ratio research resource of choice.