Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also commented on MC. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.62.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock opened at $68.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.85. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $51.06 and a 1 year high of $78.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.20.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $409.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 39.59% and a net margin of 14.50%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 90.59%.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 292.2% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 153.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.