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

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $71.00 to $86.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moelis & Company from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MC opened at $81.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 153.29 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.40 and its 200 day moving average is $70.67. Moelis & Company has a 52 week low of $46.24 and a 52 week high of $82.89.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 12.15%. Equities research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Moelis & Company Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders 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 3.20%. This is a boost from Moelis & Company’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Moelis & Company’s dividend payout ratio is presently 452.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Moelis & Company in the third quarter worth approximately $49,017,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter worth $27,855,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Moelis & Company by 252.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 220,770 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,310,000 after buying an additional 158,200 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $10,158,000. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moelis & Company during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,149,000. 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.