Morgan Stanley Cuts Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $83.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $83.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Moelis & Company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Moelis & Company from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.89.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $63.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.87. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.83. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $48.73 and a 52 week high of $78.22.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $487.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.17 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 41.67% and a net margin of 15.36%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.44%.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In related news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 2,765 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $309,967.63. This trade represents a 35.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 9.9% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $280,000 after buying an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 42,080 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,456,000 after buying an additional 1,839 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the 1st quarter valued at $264,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 37.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 42,828 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after buying an additional 11,692 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,639 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $414,000 after buying an additional 827 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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. 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.