Moelis & Company (MC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.65 on March 27th

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.65 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Moelis & Company has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.4% annually over the last three years. Moelis & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 70.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Moelis & Company to earn $3.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 74.9%.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $75.92 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.23. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $46.24 and a one year high of $82.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 43.14 and a beta of 1.40.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MC shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.83.

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.