Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.6250.

Several research analysts have commented on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 target price (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total value of $336,105.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,078.30. This represents a 97.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MC. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.0% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,742,624 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $213,330,000 after acquiring an additional 310,001 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,194,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $219,588,000 after purchasing an additional 66,697 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,862,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $178,381,000 after buying an additional 89,143 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,396,230 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $149,333,000 after buying an additional 135,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,876,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,989,000 after buying an additional 89,365 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE MC opened at $68.37 on Tuesday. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $51.06 and a 52-week high of $78.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.25 and a 200-day moving average of $64.73. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.84.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 39.59% and a net margin of 14.50%.The business had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $387.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 90.59%.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

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.