Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Given New $52.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of MC opened at $52.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87 and a beta of 1.53. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $46.24 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.11.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $306.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $309.67 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 147.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,798. This trade represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 in the last quarter. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Moelis & Company by 1,551.3% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 644 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,460.8% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 796 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Co operates as a holding company. It engages in the provision of financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a client base including corporations, governments, sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors. The firm focuses on clients including large public multinational corporations, middle market private companies, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs and governments.