Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $80.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.14.

Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $63.03 on Thursday. Moelis & Company has a one year low of $47.00 and a one year high of $82.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.64. The company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82 and a beta of 1.77.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.21. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 42.72%. The firm had revenue of $365.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 38.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is 102.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the 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 $515,544.68. This represents a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 89.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 597 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the first quarter worth $50,000. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the second quarter worth $51,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the first quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the second quarter worth $75,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently 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.