UBS Group Trims Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Target Price to $45.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price objective decreased by UBS Group from $46.00 to $45.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a market perform rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised Moelis & Company from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Moelis & Company from a sell rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $58.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $50.80.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $56.77 on Tuesday. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $33.87 and a 1-year high of $58.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.34. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of -157.69 and a beta of 1.35.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $214.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.98 million. Moelis & Company had a negative return on equity of 3.82% and a negative net margin of 2.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -666.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 128,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total transaction of $6,747,370.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,511,206. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Moelis & Company news, CFO Joseph Simon sold 8,149 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total value of $428,637.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $450,939.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 128,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total value of $6,747,370.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,511,206. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 375,185 shares of company stock valued at $20,130,225 in the last quarter. 6.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 12.7% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 13,269 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 3.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 556,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,113,000 after purchasing an additional 17,074 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 9.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 7,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 95.5% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 15.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 6,366 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.