Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Receives $78.83 Average Price Target from Analysts

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $78.83.

MC has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research note on Thursday.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MC opened at $78.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 44.76 and a beta of 1.40. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.94.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Moelis & Company will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is an increase from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Trust Point Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 18,976 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,420 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,509,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 91.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.