Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $68.00 target price on the asset manager's stock, up from their previous target price of $42.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.86% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on MC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Moelis & Company from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.17.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 2.1%

NYSE:MC traded up $1.28 on Monday, reaching $63.04. The stock had a trading volume of 776,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 803,542. The company has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.40. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $47.00 and a 1-year high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $306.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.67 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 40.89% and a net margin of 13.22%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 41.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MC. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 15,951 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 13,167 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,158,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 252.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 220,770 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $16,310,000 after acquiring an additional 158,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.