Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 3.0 %

MC opened at $71.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.74.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at $90,798. This trade represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total transaction of $184,437.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,762. This trade represents a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 62.8% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 19,960 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,475,000 after purchasing an additional 7,697 shares during the last quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 76,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,654,000 after purchasing an additional 6,511 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 175,795 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,988,000 after purchasing an additional 30,592 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 63.6% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 39,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,926,000 after purchasing an additional 15,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,671 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,970,000 after purchasing an additional 7,847 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.