Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Declares $0.60 Quarterly Dividend

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the asset manager on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th.

Moelis & Company has increased its dividend by an average of 19.6% per year over the last three years. Moelis & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 102.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Moelis & Company to earn $2.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 96.8%.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC opened at $66.93 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $40.68 and a 1 year high of $72.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $67.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 126.28 and a beta of 1.33.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $273.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.58 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 12.15%. The company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.15) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.83.

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.