Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Reduce" from Analysts

Shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Reduce" from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.83.

MC has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th.

Insider Activity at Moelis & Company

In other news, COO Ciafone Katherine Pilcher sold 3,515 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $260,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 3,934 shares in the company, valued at $291,116. This trade represents a 47.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at $90,798. This represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $86,062,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter valued at $52,610,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Moelis & Company by 215.5% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 723,384 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $53,444,000 after buying an additional 494,123 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $27,855,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company in the fourth quarter worth $20,720,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company's stock.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC stock traded up $1.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $59.67. 136,452 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 695,670. The company has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a 1-year low of $46.24 and a 1-year high of $82.89. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $69.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.38.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.36%. Moelis & Company's dividend payout ratio is 147.73%.

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.