Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock Rating Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Moelis & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Moelis & Company from $69.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.29.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:MC opened at $68.34 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.91 and a beta of 1.77. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $47.00 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.48.

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

Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 102.36%.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other Moelis & Company news, General Counsel Osamu R. Watanabe sold 6,340 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.64, for a total value of $460,537.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,515.84. The trade was a 97.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total value of $189,639.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $515,544.68. The trade was a 26.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MC. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its position in Moelis & Company by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 6,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Palisades Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.3% in the first quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 76,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 69,155 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,310,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Choreo LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 5.1% during the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,075 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Peak Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 2.9% in the second quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,814 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.