Morgan Stanley Reiterates "Underweight" Rating for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "underweight" rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $70.00 price target on the asset manager's stock, down from their prior price target of $100.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.31% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.83.

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Moelis & Company Trading Up 1.1 %

Moelis & Company stock traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $60.19. 644,463 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 608,999. The stock has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.20 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 has a 50 day moving average of $72.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.78.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the firm'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 $94,868.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at $90,798. This trade represents a 51.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the firm'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 $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,483,390. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $30,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,509,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.3% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company's stock.

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.