Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Upgraded at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. UBS Group raised Moelis & Company from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $60.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Moelis & Company from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.00.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of Moelis & Company stock opened at $57.12 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.69. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $51.06 and a 1 year high of $78.22. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.91.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $409.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.27 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 39.59%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.59%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 1,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.06, for a total transaction of $129,901.86. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,633 shares in the company, valued at $527,134.98. This represents a 19.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 4,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.30, for a total transaction of $336,105.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,078.30. This represents a 97.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MC. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 11.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,489 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its position in Moelis & Company by 8.0% in the second quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,690 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 0.3% during the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 95,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,425,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 1.8% during the first quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,861 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 292.2% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) is an independent global investment bank that provides strategic and financial advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, governments and other institutions. The firm advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, restructurings, liability management, capital raising and other complex financial transactions.

Moelis & Company serves clients across a range of industries, including technology, media and telecommunications; consumer and retail; energy and infrastructure; financial services; healthcare; industrials; and real estate.