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

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $78.83.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the second quarter worth about $554,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 115.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the third quarter worth about $207,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 110.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 6,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC opened at $75.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.05 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $75.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.13. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $46.24 and a 1 year high of $82.89.

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

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. 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’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 136.36%.

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.