Analysts Set Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) PT at $66.00

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.00.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Moelis & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of MC stock opened at $71.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 28.33 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.50. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $47.00 and a 12 month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. Moelis & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 102.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MC. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 38.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter worth approximately $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 29.4% in the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 17,322 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the first quarter worth approximately $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $484,720,000 after purchasing an additional 158,373 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.