Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 26.95% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Moelis & Company from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Moelis & Company from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $86.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $78.77 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.75. The company has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 148.62 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,973,000 after purchasing an additional 10,698 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 935,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,119,000 after purchasing an additional 12,632 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 13.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,141,000 after purchasing an additional 96,720 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 768,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $56,810,000 after purchasing an additional 53,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 1.3% in the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 440,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,167,000 after purchasing an additional 5,844 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.