Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from an underweight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $92.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior target price of $66.00.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.17.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $74.25 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.09 and a beta of 1.37. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $81.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.44.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. The business had revenue of $273.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $273.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.15) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 452.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Moelis & Company by 63.5% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 115.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 193.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at about $75,000. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

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.