Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target Raised to $85.00 at Morgan Stanley

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $83.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 26.94% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.62.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC traded up $1.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching $66.96. The company had a trading volume of 611,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,093,606. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.34. The company has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.85. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $51.06 and a 12-month high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 38.94%. The company had revenue of $409.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,857,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $42,919,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $41,231,000 after acquiring an additional 609,162 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 45.6% in the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $101,103,000 after acquiring an additional 555,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 16.1% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,304,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $235,654,000 after acquiring an additional 458,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Moelis & Company

Here are the key news stories impacting Moelis & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 earnings and revenue beat expectations. Moelis reported adjusted earnings of $0.63 per share, ahead of the $0.62 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $409.39 million versus expectations of $387.27 million. Revenue increased 12% year over year and benefited from higher average fees per completed transaction. Moelis & Company Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Higher Revenues
• Positive Sentiment: Record results provide momentum. The company characterized second-quarter and first-half 2026 revenue and earnings as records. EPS rose from $0.53 in the year-ago quarter, supporting the bullish reaction to the report. Moelis Reports Record Q2 2026 Revenues and Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend adds shareholder support. Moelis declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, payable September 17 to shareholders of record August 10. The distribution represents an annualized yield of approximately 4.0%, potentially enhancing the stock’s appeal to income-oriented investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: The results included a 14.46% net margin and 38.94% return on equity. However, the earnings release and call transcript remain important for details on deal pipelines, market conditions and management’s outlook for future advisory activity. Moelis & Company Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Higher expenses tempered the benefit of stronger fees, and investment-banking revenue can remain sensitive to volatile deal activity and market conditions. Investors may therefore focus on whether the record pace is sustainable.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.