Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock Price

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $77.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 37.61% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Moelis & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.29.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 0.3%

MC traded down $0.19 on Thursday, hitting $55.96. 49,762 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,037,054. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $51.06 and a fifty-two week high of $78.22. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.73.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 39.59%. The business had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.27 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 1,881 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.06, for a total value of $129,901.86. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,134.98. This trade represents a 19.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total value of $336,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,078.30. The trade was a 97.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,742,624 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $213,330,000 after buying an additional 310,001 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 45.6% during the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $101,103,000 after acquiring an additional 555,557 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 5.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,277,774 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $72,825,000 after acquiring an additional 61,130 shares during the period. Heard Capital LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Heard Capital LLC now owns 981,510 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,469,000 after acquiring an additional 224,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Moelis & Company by 0.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 693,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,547,000 after acquiring an additional 6,112 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) is an independent global investment bank that provides strategic and financial advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, governments and other institutions. The firm advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, restructurings, liability management, capital raising and other complex financial transactions.

Moelis & Company serves clients across a range of industries, including technology, media and telecommunications; consumer and retail; energy and infrastructure; financial services; healthcare; industrials; and real estate.