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

Key Points

• Moelis & Company has an average brokerage rating of "Hold", with one analyst rating it a sell, four a hold, two a buy, and one a strong buy.
• The stock's price target has seen significant increases, with expectations set between $63.00 and $89.00 from various research firms including Morgan Stanley and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
• Moelis & Company recently announced a $0.65 quarterly dividend, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.6%, despite a payout ratio of 102.36%.

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.00.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Moelis & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $515,544.68. This trade represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 117.6% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,015 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,170 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,628 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,150,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $872,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $663,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,714,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.88. 430,604 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 667,021. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The business's 50-day moving average price is $68.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.63. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69 and a beta of 1.70.

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 return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.The firm had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 102.36%.

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.