Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts hold a consensus “Hold” rating on Moelis & Company, with seven hold, two buy and one sell recommendation. The average 12-month price target is $73.63.
• Moelis exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.63 EPS versus $0.62 expected and $409.39 million in revenue versus $387.27 million expected; revenue increased 12% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, equivalent to a 4.1% yield and $2.60 annualized payout, though its dividend payout ratio is high at 90.59%.

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.6250.

MC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group restated a "sell" rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC stock opened at $63.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.84. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $51.06 and a fifty-two week high of $78.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.30 and a 200-day moving average of $64.88.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 39.59% and a net margin of 14.50%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total transaction of $336,105.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $9,078.30. This represents a 97.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MC. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 11.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,489 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 8,889 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 3,433 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 16,955 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company's stock.

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. The company was founded by Kenneth David Moelis, Navid Mahmoodzadegan, Jeffrey Raich and Elizabeth Ann Crain in July 2007 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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