Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target Raised to $85.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $83.00 to $85.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

MC has been the topic of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up from $58.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered Moelis & Company from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.62.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Moelis & Company stock opened at $67.08 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $51.06 and a 1-year high of $78.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.85.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The asset manager reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.01. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 39.61% and a net margin of 14.50%.The company had revenue of $409.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 292.2% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 153.9% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 419 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.