Morgan Stanley Lowers Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $42.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $42.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

MC has been the subject of several other research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.17.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:MC opened at $49.87 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $67.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.93. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34 and a beta of 1.53.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. On average, research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In other news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,509,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Choreo LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 4,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.