Morgan Stanley Cuts Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $83.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Moelis & Company from $90 to $83 while keeping an "overweight" rating, a target that implies about a 31.5% upside from the prior close.
• Overall analyst sentiment is muted: the consensus rating is "Hold" with a consensus price target of $71.89, and several firms (Goldman, UBS, Keefe Bruyette & Woods among others) have recently trimmed their targets.
• Moelis recently beat the quarter's estimates with $1.13 EPS (vs. $0.76 est.) and $487.9M revenue, its shares traded around $63.10, an insider sold a small stake, and institutional investors own about 91.5% of the stock.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $83.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the asset manager's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target would indicate a potential upside of 31.54% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on MC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $64.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.89.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC stock traded up $1.61 on Thursday, reaching $63.10. 366,893 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,229,300. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $48.73 and a one year high of $78.22. The company has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.59 and a 200-day moving average of $66.01.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.37. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 41.67%. The company had revenue of $487.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total transaction of $172,065.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 4,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $309,967.63. This represents a 35.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter worth approximately $6,105,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 1.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 962,778 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $68,665,000 after purchasing an additional 17,220 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 381,458 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $26,221,000 after purchasing an additional 26,800 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 354.1% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 42,789 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,052,000 after purchasing an additional 33,367 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 23.3% during the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 240,796 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $17,174,000 after purchasing an additional 45,458 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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. 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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