The Goldman Sachs Group Has Lowered Expectations for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock Price

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target reduced by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $86.00 to $75.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 25.83% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on MC. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC stock opened at $59.61 on Friday. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $46.24 and a fifty-two week high of $82.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.87 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.74.

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

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock valued at $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,509,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. 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.