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

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.8889.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Zacks Research cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $90.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:MC opened at $65.90 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $51.06 and a 52 week high of $78.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $62.24 and a 200 day moving average of $65.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.87.

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

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MC. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,857,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at $42,919,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $41,231,000 after acquiring an additional 609,162 shares during the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 45.6% in the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $101,103,000 after acquiring an additional 555,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,304,180 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $235,654,000 after acquiring an additional 458,575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.