Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target Cut to $66.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $67.00 to $66.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock traded down $0.44 on Thursday, hitting $66.52. The company had a trading volume of 78,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,390. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.51 and a 200-day moving average of $60.62. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $39.08 and a twelve month high of $72.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 446.93 and a beta of 1.33.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $273.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.58 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 4.38% and a net margin of 1.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.15) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,600.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total transaction of $34,298.55. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $649,385.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total value of $34,298.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $649,385.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 5,308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.87, for a total value of $365,561.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 86 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,922.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,190,221 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $408,836,000 after buying an additional 47,365 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.9% in the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,417,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,020,000 after purchasing an additional 159,797 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,118,245 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,483,000 after purchasing an additional 55,402 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Moelis & Company by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 755,541 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $42,960,000 after purchasing an additional 29,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,017,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.