Head-To-Head Review: Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) & DigitalBridge Group (NYSE:DBRG)

DigitalBridge Group (NYSE:DBRG) and Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of DigitalBridge Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.5% of Moelis & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of DigitalBridge Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of Moelis & Company shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

DigitalBridge Group has a beta of 1.94, suggesting that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moelis & Company has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

DigitalBridge Group pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Moelis & Company pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. DigitalBridge Group pays out 5.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Moelis & Company pays out 452.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for DigitalBridge Group and Moelis & Company, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DigitalBridge Group	0	1	6	1	3.00
Moelis & Company	2	5	0	0	1.71

DigitalBridge Group currently has a consensus price target of $18.13, suggesting a potential upside of 44.31%. Moelis & Company has a consensus price target of $60.83, suggesting a potential downside of 17.39%. Given DigitalBridge Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe DigitalBridge Group is more favorable than Moelis & Company.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares DigitalBridge Group and Moelis & Company”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DigitalBridge Group	$1.50 billion	1.46	$185.28 million	$0.73	17.21
Moelis & Company	$854.75 million	6.45	-$24.70 million	$0.53	138.93

DigitalBridge Group has higher revenue and earnings than Moelis & Company. DigitalBridge Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Moelis & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares DigitalBridge Group and Moelis & Company’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DigitalBridge Group	21.42%	3.58%	1.72%
Moelis & Company	4.22%	12.15%	4.24%

Summary

DigitalBridge Group beats Moelis & Company on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DigitalBridge Group

DigitalBridge is an infrastructure investment firm specializing in digital infrastructure assets. They provide services to institutional investors. They primarily invest in data centers, cell towers, fiber networks, small cells, and edge infrastructure. DigitalBridge Group, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida with additional offices in Los Angles, California, and New York New York.

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. The company offers its services to public multinational corporations, middle market private companies, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs, governments, and sovereign wealth funds. It operates in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in New York, New York.