Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on MC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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 raised Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.29.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of MC opened at $68.34 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $72.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.50. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $47.00 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The stock has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 1.77.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.21. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 42.72% and a net margin of 14.31%.The firm had revenue of $365.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 102.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total transaction of $460,537.60. Following the sale, the general counsel 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. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Moelis & Company by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,510 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 2nd quarter worth $456,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 13,817 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 2,705 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 48,356 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,014,000 after purchasing an additional 7,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 251.1% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 40,808 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,543,000 after purchasing an additional 29,185 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

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.