Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Given New $81.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $80.00 to $81.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.11% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MC. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research downgraded Moelis & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.33.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $71.61. The company had a trading volume of 2,180,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 860,176. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.96.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $487.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 45.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 89.8% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 153.9% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 89.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 597 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

More Moelis & Company News

Here are the key news stories impacting Moelis & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings and buyback — Moelis reported Q4 revenue of ~$487.9M (up ~11% YoY) and beat EPS estimates; the board authorized a $300M share buyback, a clear shareholder-return signal that supports the rally. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade / higher price target — Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $90 and kept an Overweight rating, implying material upside vs. the current share level and lending buy-side credibility. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend reinstated/higher yield — Management declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65/share (implying ~3.7% yield), which increases cash return to investors and can support multiple expansion for the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Business momentum / strategy — Company commentary and coverage highlight M&A momentum, capital markets expansion and strategic hires that could sustain fee pipelines, but these are longer-cycle drivers. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst estimates — Some analysts have boosted near-term EPS estimates, which supports expectations, but forecast dispersion remains (median target lower than Morgan Stanley’s), so consensus will be important to watch. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability and cash-flow pressure — While revenue grew, operating profit and diluted EPS were modestly down YoY and operating cash flow declined materially; balance-sheet cash declined ~31%, which tempers the beat and raises sensitivity to future expense or market-pressure swings. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Insider/institutional moves — Recent insider selling and large portfolio reductions by some institutional holders are worth monitoring as potential near-term supply pressure. Article Title

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.