Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from an underweight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $92.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous target price of $66.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.17.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.1 %

Moelis & Company stock opened at $75.58 on Monday. Moelis & Company has a 12-month low of $46.24 and a 12-month high of $81.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.27. The stock has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.60 and a beta of 1.37.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. The company had revenue of $273.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.15) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 452.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Moelis & Company by 63.5% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 497 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Moelis & Company by 115.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 995 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Moelis & Company by 193.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company in the 3rd quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.