Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Stock Price

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC - Free Report) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $55.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager's stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moelis & Company from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $86.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. 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 note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $70.00 to $42.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.50.

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Moelis & Company Stock Performance

MC stock traded down $0.25 on Tuesday, reaching $50.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 996,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,006. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.71 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.13. 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 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 anticipate that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from Moelis & Company's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.14%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company's payout ratio is presently 147.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares in the company, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 2,551 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,940 shares in the company, valued at $501,762. This represents a 26.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moelis & Company by 13.8% in the first quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 66,893 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,904,000 after acquiring an additional 8,107 shares in the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Moelis & Company by 10.5% in the first quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,257 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 1st quarter worth approximately $165,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,567 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP raised its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 4,940 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.