Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $78.83.

MC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 2.0 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $81.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 153.29 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.67. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 12.15%. Equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 452.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,017,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $27,855,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 252.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 220,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,310,000 after acquiring an additional 158,200 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,158,000. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,149,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.