Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms “Market Perform” Rating for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC)

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their market perform rating on shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $60.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $54.00.

MC has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $51.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $56.00.

Moelis & Company Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE MC opened at $68.08 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.38. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $38.58 and a 1 year high of $68.50.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $264.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.90 million. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 1.38% and a return on equity of 4.38%. Moelis & Company’s quarterly revenue was up 47.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moelis & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 5th. Moelis & Company’s payout ratio is -1,263.16%.

Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company

In other news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total transaction of $2,470,301.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Navid Mahmoodzadegan sold 44,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.92, for a total transaction of $2,470,301.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.98, for a total transaction of $2,159,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 42,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,290,965.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moelis & Company

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MC. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 147.9% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 657 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 510.2% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 836 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Moelis & Company by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. 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.