Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock Price Down 6.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) shares were down 6.1% on Wednesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on the stock from $69.00 to $66.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Moelis & Company traded as low as $65.00 and last traded at $65.5540. Approximately 147,288 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 1,119,079 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.84.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $60.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Moelis & Company from $90.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research downgraded Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.33.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,489 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 64.4% in the fourth 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. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 8,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 3,433 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Moelis & Company by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 16,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,165,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $66.44 and a 200-day moving average of $65.82. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.85.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $319.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.51 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 38.94%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 93.53%.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

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.