StockNews.com Downgrades Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated 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. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.83.

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Moelis & Company Price Performance

Shares of MC traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $60.19. The company had a trading volume of 644,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 608,999. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.20 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The company's 50-day moving average is $72.87 and its 200-day moving average is $71.78.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 38.49% and a net margin of 11.39%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.30, for a total value of $184,437.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,483,390. The trade was a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MC. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $86,062,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth about $52,610,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 215.5% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $53,444,000 after purchasing an additional 494,123 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,855,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,720,000. 91.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.