Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Rating Reiterated by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $54.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price target of $58.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 8.30% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $58.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.40.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 7.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MC traded down $4.13 on Thursday, reaching $49.86. The company had a trading volume of 533,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 626,787. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.51. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $33.87 and a 52-week high of $58.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of -136.81 and a beta of 1.35.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.11. Moelis & Company had a negative return on equity of 3.82% and a negative net margin of 2.89%. The business had revenue of $217.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 20,001 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.82, for a total value of $1,116,455.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 79,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,457,729.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 20,001 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.82, for a total value of $1,116,455.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 79,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,457,729.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total value of $4,058,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 86,441 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,322.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 375,185 shares of company stock worth $20,130,225. Corporate insiders own 6.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,787,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $351,449,000 after acquiring an additional 28,446 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 0.7% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,279,209 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $328,511,000 after purchasing an additional 49,291 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.9% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,417,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,020,000 after buying an additional 159,797 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,374,385 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $189,404,000 after acquiring an additional 334,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399,649 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $78,562,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.