Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Shares Gap Down to $53.99

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $53.99, but opened at $50.55. Moelis & Company shares last traded at $49.99, with a volume of 495,067 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $54.00 target price (down previously from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moelis & Company from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.80.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 1.0 %

The company has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of -261.84 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.54.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $217.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.30 million. Moelis & Company had a negative return on equity of 0.13% and a negative net margin of 1.33%. Moelis & Company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.82%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is currently -1,263.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total value of $55,733.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total value of $55,733.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total value of $4,058,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 86,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,322.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 375,185 shares of company stock worth $20,130,225. 6.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 147.9% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 657 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the third quarter worth $99,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.