Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Given New $66.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Moelis & Company’s price target to $66 from $69 and kept a market perform rating, implying only modest upside from the prior close.
• Other analysts have also turned cautious on MC, with recent actions including Goldman Sachs lowering its target to $62 and UBS reiterating a sell rating with a $60 target. Overall, the stock now carries a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $72.33.
• Moelis shares were trading around $65.50 on Friday after rising 1.4%, while the company recently reported Q1 earnings of $0.50 per share, below estimates, despite revenue growth of 4.3% year over year.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $69.00 to $66.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the asset manager's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price target points to a potential upside of 0.76% from the company's previous close.

MC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Zacks Research downgraded Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Moelis & Company from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Moelis & Company from $90.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "sell" rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.33.

Moelis & Company Trading Up 1.4%

MC stock opened at $65.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.82. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $51.06 and a 12 month high of $78.22. The company has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.85.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $319.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.51 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.94% and a net margin of 14.46%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $60,857,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $42,919,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1,161.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 661,594 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $41,231,000 after purchasing an additional 609,162 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773,735 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $101,103,000 after purchasing an additional 555,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,304,180 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $235,654,000 after purchasing an additional 458,575 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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