Brokerages Set Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Target Price at $50.80

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the six analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.80.

Several research firms have recently commented on MC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $51.65 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $54.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.20. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of -143.47 and a beta of 1.35. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $33.87 and a twelve month high of $58.67.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The asset manager reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.05. Moelis & Company had a negative return on equity of 3.82% and a negative net margin of 2.89%. The company had revenue of $214.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently -666.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, CFO Joseph Simon sold 8,573 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total transaction of $464,056.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 128,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total value of $6,747,370.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,511,206. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joseph Simon sold 8,573 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.13, for a total value of $464,056.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 375,185 shares of company stock worth $20,130,225 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,787,483 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $351,449,000 after acquiring an additional 28,446 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 7,279,209 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $328,511,000 after acquiring an additional 49,291 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,239,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $282,881,000 after acquiring an additional 870,362 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,654.6% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,807,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $217,994,000 after acquiring an additional 4,533,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Moelis & Company by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,417,643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,020,000 after purchasing an additional 159,797 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.