The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Price Target to $75.00

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) had its target price dropped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $86.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the asset manager’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.82% from the stock’s previous close.

MC has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moelis & Company from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down from $100.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moelis & Company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.83.

Moelis & Company Stock Performance

NYSE:MC traded up $1.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $59.61. The stock had a trading volume of 272,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 864,933. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.84 and a beta of 1.43. Moelis & Company has a twelve month low of $46.24 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.78.

Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.79. Moelis & Company had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 38.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moelis & Company will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moelis & Company news, insider Christopher Callesano sold 1,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $94,868.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,798. The trade was a 51.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kenneth Moelis sold 9,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $718,688.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 209,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,483,390. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,721 shares of company stock worth $1,677,017 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 3rd quarter worth $3,433,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $2,784,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 804,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,141,000 after acquiring an additional 96,720 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the 4th quarter worth $9,149,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 129.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $949,000 after acquiring an additional 7,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the company’s stock.

Moelis & Company Company Profile

Moelis & Co operates as a holding company. It engages in the provision of financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a client base including corporations, governments, sovereign wealth funds and financial sponsors. The firm focuses on clients including large public multinational corporations, middle market private companies, financial sponsors, entrepreneurs and governments.