Moelis & Company Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.60 (NYSE:MC)

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

Moelis & Company has increased its dividend by an average of 19.6% per year over the last three years. Moelis & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 92.0% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings fall. Analysts expect Moelis & Company to earn $2.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 84.8%.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC stock traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $49.75. 811,587 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 645,749. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -264.53 and a beta of 1.35. Moelis & Company has a fifty-two week low of $33.87 and a fifty-two week high of $58.67. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $54.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.50.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.11. Moelis & Company had a negative net margin of 1.33% and a negative return on equity of 0.13%. The business had revenue of $217.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.05 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $54.00 target price (down previously from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Moelis & Company from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised Moelis & Company from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total value of $55,733.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Moelis & Company news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,040 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.59, for a total value of $55,733.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph Simon sold 10,720 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.70, for a total transaction of $586,384.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 375,185 shares of company stock worth $20,130,225 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.96% of the company's stock.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.