Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Seaport Res Ptn

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) was upgraded by research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.57.

Moelis & Company Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of MC stock opened at $63.32 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.13. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $47.00 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The company has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.18 and a beta of 1.77.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The asset manager reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 47.11%. The business had revenue of $356.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.52, for a total transaction of $189,639.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $515,544.68. This trade represents a 26.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 14,633 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,044,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth $213,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 68.2% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 76,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,444,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust grew its holdings in Moelis & Company by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 273,351 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $19,495,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares in 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.