Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives $78.83 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.83.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC opened at $62.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 35.48 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.02.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % 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 worth $1,677,017 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% in the fourth 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 period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.