Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Trading Down 6.8% – Time to Sell?

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) shares fell 6.8% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $52.11 and last traded at $52.35. 505,969 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 1,091,562 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Moelis & Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.33.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $487.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 41.67%. Moelis & Company’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is presently 88.44%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.23, for a total transaction of $172,065.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,967.63. The trade was a 35.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 541.5% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 19,726 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,364,000 after purchasing an additional 16,651 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 6,912 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 2,329 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 141.7% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,653 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,213,000 after buying an additional 10,349 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 76,054 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,228,000 after acquiring an additional 10,635 shares during the period. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.