Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Moelis & Company has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with seven holding the stock and three assigning a buy rating, alongside an average price target of $71.86.
• The firm reported $0.53 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 38.1%.
• Moelis recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.8%, despite a high payout ratio of 102.36%.

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.8571.

MC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a "moderate buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:MC opened at $67.83 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $71.53 and its 200-day moving average is $63.75. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $47.00 and a 52-week high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70 and a beta of 1.77.

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

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is 102.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $9,515.84. The trade was 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 89.5% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 597 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the second quarter worth approximately $51,000. eCIO Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the first quarter worth approximately $50,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 25.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,510 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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