Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.60

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

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 92.0% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Analysts expect Moelis & Company to earn $2.83 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 84.8%.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $50.26 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $33.87 and a 52-week high of $58.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $54.19 and a 200 day moving average of $51.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of -264.53 and a beta of 1.35.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.11. Moelis & Company had a negative net margin of 1.33% and a negative return on equity of 0.13%. The company had revenue of $217.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.05 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $54.00 price target (down from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.80.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

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

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.