Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC opened at $59.61 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.74. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.87 and a beta of 1.43.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is 147.73%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $94,868.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,116. This represents a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017 in the last quarter. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MC. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $61,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.