Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Morgan Stanley

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $73.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

MC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.17.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock opened at $56.35 on Monday. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $51.06 and a 12-month high of $78.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The asset manager reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 39.62% and a net margin of 14.22%. The firm had revenue of $425.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $434.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 16th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 88.44%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 1,881 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.06, for a total value of $129,901.86. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,633 shares in the company, valued at $527,134.98. This represents a 19.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 6.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the second quarter worth approximately $109,065,000. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,529,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter valued at $15,615,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 43.1% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 649,724 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,035,000 after buying an additional 195,752 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 349,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,748,000 after acquiring an additional 93,528 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company is an independent investment bank that provides strategic and financial advice to corporations, governments, financial sponsors and investors. Its advisory work includes mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, recapitalizations, liability management and other complex financial matters. Founded in 2007 by investment banker Kenneth Moelis, the firm has expanded from its U.S. base to serve clients through offices across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Its teams advise clients on transactions and strategic decisions across a range of industries.