Moelis & Company’s (MC) Underweight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their underweight rating on shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $70.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $100.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on MC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MC stock opened at $59.61 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $72.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.87 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 52-week low of $46.24 and a 52-week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moelis & Company

In related news, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,116. This trade represents a 47.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $718,688.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 52.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 398 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 148.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 822 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. 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.