Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $83.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 26.94% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on MC. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $60.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.62.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock traded up $1.71 on Thursday, reaching $66.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 611,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,093,606. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $51.06 and a 52 week high of $78.22. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.34.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.94% and a net margin of 14.46%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,019,832 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,103,000 after purchasing an additional 100,956 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 541.5% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,726 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,364,000 after buying an additional 16,651 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,385,692 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,253,000 after buying an additional 129,368 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 45.6% in the first quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 1,773,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $101,103,000 after buying an additional 555,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Management Corp VA increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 308,624 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $21,215,000 after buying an additional 80,297 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Moelis & Company

Here are the key news stories impacting Moelis & Company this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 earnings and revenue beat expectations. Moelis reported adjusted earnings of $0.63 per share, ahead of the $0.62 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $409.39 million versus expectations of $387.27 million. Revenue increased 12% year over year and benefited from higher average fees per completed transaction. Moelis & Company Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Higher Revenues
• Positive Sentiment: Record results provide momentum. The company characterized second-quarter and first-half 2026 revenue and earnings as records. EPS rose from $0.53 in the year-ago quarter, supporting the bullish reaction to the report. Moelis Reports Record Q2 2026 Revenues and Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend adds shareholder support. Moelis declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, payable September 17 to shareholders of record August 10. The distribution represents an annualized yield of approximately 4.0%, potentially enhancing the stock’s appeal to income-oriented investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: The results included a 14.46% net margin and 38.94% return on equity. However, the earnings release and call transcript remain important for details on deal pipelines, market conditions and management’s outlook for future advisory activity. Moelis & Company Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Higher expenses tempered the benefit of stronger fees, and investment-banking revenue can remain sensitive to volatile deal activity and market conditions. Investors may therefore focus on whether the record pace is sustainable.

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.