Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.8889.

Several research firms have recently commented on MC. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 292.2% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 89.8% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 153.9% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

MC stock opened at $65.90 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.40. The company has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.87. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $51.06 and a 12 month high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The asset manager reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $319.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $321.51 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 38.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 93.53%.

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. 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.