Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Raised to “Hold” at BMO Capital Markets

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) was upgraded by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.29.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of MC stock opened at $68.34 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 1.77. The business’s 50 day moving average is $72.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.48. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $47.00 and a 12-month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.57 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. This represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $484,720,000 after acquiring an additional 158,373 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,080,123 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $191,953,000 after acquiring an additional 137,824 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,862,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $178,381,000 after acquiring an additional 89,143 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,845,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,338,000 after acquiring an additional 112,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,396,230 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $149,333,000 after acquiring an additional 135,885 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.