Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.65

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.65 per share by the asset manager on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Moelis & Company has increased its dividend by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Moelis & Company has a dividend payout ratio of 71.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Moelis & Company to earn $3.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 74.9%.

Moelis & Company Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MC traded down $0.28 during trading on Monday, reaching $78.52. The company had a trading volume of 1,427,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 787,852. The stock has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.61 and a beta of 1.40. The company's fifty day moving average price is $75.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.94. Moelis & Company has a 12 month low of $46.24 and a 12 month high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.83.

About Moelis & Company

Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory.