Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.6250.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings downgraded 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 reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total transaction of $336,105.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $9,078.30. This represents a 97.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.0% during the first 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,194,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $219,588,000 after acquiring an additional 66,697 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,862,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $178,381,000 after acquiring an additional 89,143 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,396,230 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $149,333,000 after acquiring an additional 135,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,876,472 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,989,000 after purchasing an additional 89,365 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

NYSE MC opened at $66.85 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.62. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $51.06 and a 1-year high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 39.59%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 90.59%.

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.