Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Coverage Initiated at BMO Capital Markets

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage of Moelis & Company with a "market perform" rating and a price target of $74.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.47% from the current price.
• Moelis & Company reported a significant 38.1% year-over-year revenue increase for the last quarter, totaling $365.38 million, and exceeding analysts' expectations.
• Analysts currently rate Moelis & Company with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.29, with additional ratings indicating mixed investor confidence.

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a "market perform" rating and a $74.00 price target on the asset manager's stock. BMO Capital Markets' target price would suggest a potential upside of 7.47% from the company's previous close.

MC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.29.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE MC opened at $68.85 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.42. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $47.00 and a 12-month high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $5.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11 and a beta of 1.77.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.21. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The company had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. Moelis & Company's revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% 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, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 38.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,432,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 29.4% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 76,298 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,067,000 after buying an additional 17,322 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $484,720,000 after buying an additional 158,373 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

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