Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives $76.33 Consensus PT from Analysts

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $76.3333.

MC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, December 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total value of $172,065.95. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 4,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,967.63. This represents a 35.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $60,857,000. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the second quarter valued at $46,762,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,919,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $41,231,000 after buying an additional 609,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 16.1% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,304,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $235,654,000 after acquiring an additional 458,575 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.8%

MC stock opened at $60.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.66. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $47.00 and a fifty-two week high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.37. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 43.19%. The firm had revenue of $487.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $430.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. Moelis & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 88.44%.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Co operates as a holding company. It engages in the provision of financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a client base including corporations, governments, sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors. The firm focuses on clients including large public multinational corporations, middle market private companies, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs and governments. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.