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

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.83.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MC shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $71.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MC. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 63.5% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 115.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 193.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $75,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:MC opened at $74.84 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $81.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.65. The firm has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.21 and a beta of 1.37.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $273.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $273.58 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 12.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.15) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 0.96 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 452.83%.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

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.