UBS Group Reaffirms “Sell” Rating for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reaffirmed by analysts at UBS Group in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $58.00. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential downside of 14.05% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MC. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.11.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 3.0%

NYSE MC opened at $69.81 on Wednesday. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $51.06 and a 12 month high of $78.22. The stock has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $66.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $319.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $321.51 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 38.94%. Moelis & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MC. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Moelis & Company by 11.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,489 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 8,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 3,433 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 16,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,165,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.