Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) from an underweight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $92.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior target price of $66.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moelis & Company from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.17.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of MC opened at $75.58 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 142.60 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $71.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.27. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $81.60.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 12.15% and a net margin of 4.22%. The firm had revenue of $273.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $273.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.15) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is currently 452.83%.

Institutional Trading of Moelis & Company

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MC. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Moelis & Company by 42.9% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Moelis & Company by 51.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 135,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,699,000 after purchasing an additional 46,226 shares during the last quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moelis & Company by 3.3% in the second quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 10,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 2.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 370,866 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $21,087,000 after purchasing an additional 7,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company in the second quarter valued at $517,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

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.